THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


UJ 


THE  WORLD'S 
GREAT  EVENTS 


IN    FIVE     VOLUMES 

A  HISTORY  OF  THE  WORLD  FROM 

ANCIENT  TO  MODERN  TIMES 

B.C.  4004  TO  A.D.  1903 

By    ESTHER    SINGLETON 


ILLUSTRATED  WITH    NUMEROUS  FULL-PAGE  DRAWINGS 
EXECUTED  IN  DUOGRAPH 


VOLUME  ONE— ANCIENT 

b.Q.  4004  TO  A.D.  70 


NEW     YORK 

P.     F.    COLLIER    &    SON 

MCM  I  V 


/ 


Copyright  iqo-\ 
Bv  P.  F.  COLLIER  &  SON 


D2t 


V. 


1 


PREFACE 


T  is  not  easy  to  find  a  satisfactory  definition  of  the  term 
History.  In  its  widest  sense,  of  course,  it  is  the  nar- 
ration of  events,  or,  as  Von  Humboldt  puts  it:  "the 
exhibition  of  what  has  happened.'  The  dictionary  of  the 
French  Academy  somewhat  Hmits  the  field  of  its  activities 
by  defining  it  as  the  recital  of  things  worthy  of  remem- 
brance. This  definition  is  good  enough  for  our  purpose, 
however,  since  it  covers  the  field  of  the  present  work. 

In  accordance  with  this  definition,  therefore,  History 
consists  of  exceptional  matters,  of  celebrated  or  notorious 
events,  of  the  lives  and  actions  of  great  men  whether  good 
or  evil,  of  conspicuous  achievements  in  war,  politics,  ex- 
ploration, science,  art,  religion,  and  literature.  This  work 
attempts  to  g^ve  a  summary  of  history  thus  regarded,  by 
selecting  some  of  the  more  important  events  as  described 
and  considered  by  historians. 

# 
In  relating  the  great  events  of  history,  this  work  does 

not  attempt  to  deal^vith  the  vast  mass  of  knowledge  recently 

LIBRAT^f 


2  PREFACE 

•  gained  from  tlie  deciphering  of  monuments  and  cylinders. 
It  treats  only  of  those  events  that  have  been  described  and 
discussed  by  historians  beginning  wirti  Herodotus  and  the 
Hebrew  scribes.  American,  German,  EngHsh,  and  French 
expeditions  year  after  year  delve  and  rummage  among 
the  ruins  of  ancient  cities  and  add  enormous  additions  to 
our  knowledge  of  the  past,  and  with  this  constantly  in- 
creasing wealth  of  detail  the  gaps  of  the  distant  centuries 
are  gradually  being  filled  up,  and  a  connected  view  of  the 
whole  will  be  eventually  gained.  At  present,  however,  not- 
withstanding the  labors  of  Lenormant,  Sayce,  Rawlinson, 
Hincks,  Oppert,  de  Riancy,  Guillemin,  Robiou,  Mariette, 
Morris,  de  Luynes,  and  many  others,  the  material  collected 
has  not  yet  been  presented  in  such  an  authoritative  form  as 
to  enable  us  to  follow  the  stream  of  ancient  history  and 
recognize  all  its  branches  and  tributaries.  So  rapid  indeed 
has  been  the  progress  of  research  that  the  essays  attached 
to  the  best  translations  of  Herodotus  become  antiquated 
almost  before  the  ink  is  dry,  and  the  best  manuals  of  ancient 
history  need  annual  revision.  While  matters  are  still  in 
this  chaotic  state,  it  is  perhaps  allowable  to  confine  our 
selections  of  the  great  events  of  ancient  history  to  those 
that  are  recorded  in  the  pages^of  Greek  and  Latin  writers, 
although  some  of  these  accounts,  such  as  the  details  of  the 
foundation  of  Rome,  are  al^iittedly  legendary.  The  early 
writers  leaned  much  on  hearsay  evidence,  although  if  they 
had  cared  to  take  the  trouble  they  migh»have  gone  to  the 


PREFACE  3 

monuments  for  their  facts,  as  the  modern  searchers  after 
truth  have  been  forced  to  do  with  infinitely  greater  pains. 
It  has  been  pointed  out  that  the  Egyptian  hieroglyphics 
were  still  written  and  read  two  centuries  and  a  half  after 
the  birth  of  Christ,  and  that  the  Babylonian  cuneiform 
characters  were  employed  till  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusa- 
lem, hong  before  this,  the  Egyptian  records  had  been  trans- 
lated into  Greek  by  Manetho,  and  the  Babylonian  records 
by  Berosus.  But  these  translators  were  neglected  by  the 
contemporary  literary  world,  as  being  "barbarians,"  and  it 
was  only  a  Jew,  like  Josephus,  or  such  orientalizing  Chris- 
tians as  Eusebius,  who  made  any  use  of  them.  The  chief 
source  of  information  on  Oriental  history  for  the  literary 
circles  of  Greece  and  Rome  were  Herodotus,  pieced  out  with 
excerpts  from  Ctesius,  or  Hecateus  of  Abdera,  and  ex- 
panded by  compilers  like  Diodorus.  Unfortunately  no  manu- 
script containing  the  work  of  either  Berosus  or  Manetho  has 
yet  been  recovered  from  the  tomb,  and  therefore,  since  the 
revival  of  learning,  the  world  has  had  to  go  to  Herodotus 
for  all  its  ideas  of  the  ancient  East. 

Ancient  History  is  improperly  separated  from  Modern 
by  the  arbitrary  assumption  of  a  particular  date.  A  more 
convenient  and  logical  division  may  be  made  by  regarding 
as  ancient  all  that  belongs  to  a  state  of  things  that  has  com- 
pletely passed  away,  and  as  modern  all  that  connects  itself 
inseparably  with  the  present.    In  Western  Europe,  the  irrup- 


4  PREFACE 

tioii  of  the  Xorthern  Barbarians,  in  Eastern  Europe,  Asia, 
and  Africa  the  Mohammedan  conquests,  form  the  line  of 
demarcation  between  the  two  portions  of  the  historic  field, 
since  these  events  broug^ht  to  a  close  the  old  condition  of 
things  and  introduced  the  condition  which  continues  to  the 
present  day. 

For  practical  purposes,  historians  have  agreed  to  group 
the  leading  epochs  and  dominant  phases  in  general  history 
under  six  heads. 

I.  The  early  Oriental  Theocracies,  represented  by  the 
Eg^'ptian,  Assyrian,  Persian,  and  Indian  monarchies,  the 
Chinese,  Japanese,  and  other  Buddhist  empires,  and  some 
modern  states. 

II.  The  rise  and  development  of  the  Greek  world,  in- 
volving the  story  of  the  separate  Hellenic  states. 

III.  The  rise  and  consolidation  of  the  Roman  world, 
showing  the  origin  of  the  Republic,  the  growth  of  the  Dic- 
tatorship, and  the  final  fall  of  the  divided  empire. 

IV.  The  Catholic  and  feudal  world,  known  as  the 
Middle  Ages. 

V.  The  formation  and  development  of  the  great  Euro- 
pean states, — including  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  modern 


PREFACE  ^ 

monarchies,  the  revival  of  learning,  the  Reformation,  and 
what  is  called  modern  history  down  to  the  close  of  the 
Eighteenth   Century. 

VI.  The  political  and  industrial  revolution  of  the  modern 
world,  including  the  rise  and  consolidation  of  Prussia  and 
of  the  United  States;  the  intellectual,  scientific  and  indus- 
trial revolution  of  the  last  century;  the  French  Revolution 
and  the  wars  to  which  it  gave  rise;  the  development  of 
transmarine  empires  and  international  communication; 
democracy  and  socialism  in  their  various  types. 

Rome  is  the  centre  of  all  European  histor)\  The  his- 
tory of  Europe  is  almost  wholly  made  up  of  the  steps  by 
which  the  older  states  came  under  the  power  of  Rome,  and 
secondly,  of  the  way  in  which  the  modern  states  of  Europe 
were  formed  by  the  breaking  up  of  that  power.  Greece 
alone  has  a  real  history  of  its  own,  earlier  th^n  that  of  Rome 
and  independent  of  it. 

The  first  step  toward  grasping  the  history  of  those 
centuries  through  which  the  ancient  world  evolved  into 
the  modern  is  the  comprehension  of  the  fact  that  the  old 
Roman  Empire  did  not  cease  to  exist  until  the  year  1453. 
The  line  of  Roman  Emperors  continued  in  unbroken  suc- 
cession from  Octavius  Augustus  to  Constantine  Paleologus. 
Historians  who  first  use  the  phrase  Byzantine  Empire  are 


0  PREFACE 

not  very  precise  as  to  the  date  at  which  the  Roman  Empire 
ends  and  the  Byzantine  Empire  begins.  Sometimes  the 
Hne  is  drawn  at  the  foundation  of  Constantinople  by  Con- 
stantine  the  Great,  sometimes  at  the  death  of  Theodosius 
the  Great,  sometimes  at  the  reign  of  Justinian,  and  some- 
times at  the  accession  of  Leo  the  Isaurian.  All  these  lines 
are  purely  arbitrary.  No  "Byzantine  Empire"  ever  began 
to  exist.  The  Roman  Empire,  moreover,  was  one  and  un- 
divided in  the  Fifth  Century:  though  there  were  generally 
more  Emperors  than  one,  there  were  never  two  Empires. 
However  independent  one  of  another,  or  even  hostile,  theo- 
retically the  unity  of  the  Empire  which  they  ruled  was 
unaffected. 

The  transition  from  the  ancient  to  the  mediaeval  world 
may  be  said  to  have  taken  place  between  the  Fourth  and 
the  Eighth  Century.  We  can  hardly  apply  the  term  Mediae- 
val to  the  Fourth  Century,  or  the  term  Ancient  to  the 
Eighth.  In  the  year  395  A.  D.  the  Empire  was  still  intact, 
but  with  the  Fifth  Century  its  dismemberment  began.  A 
rival  Roman  Empire  was  founded  in  800  A.  D.  The  Cor- 
onation of  Charles  the  Great  marks  a  new  departure  in 
European  history,  and  therefore,  as  Arnold  noted,  it  forms 
a  suitable  end  as  well  as  a  suitable  beginning. 

Such  unity  as  had  been  given  to  Western  Europe  by  the 
Mediaeval  Empire  and  the  Papacy  disappeared  with  the  Great 


PREFACE  7 

Interregnum  in  the  middle  of  the  Thirteenth  Century;  and 
such  unity  as  was  afterward  suppHed  by  the  growth  of 
formal  international  relations  can  not  be  said  to  begin 
before  the  invasion  of  Naples  by  Charles  VIII.  of  France 
at  the  end  of  the  Fifteenth  Century.  In  the  interval 
between  these  two  dates  there  is  apparent  chaos,  and  the 
germs  of  future  order  can  only  be  detected  by  the  closest 
examination.  The  dominant  characteristic  of  the  age  is 
its  diversity,  A  cursory  glance  over  some  of  the  most 
striking  episodes  of  the  period  will  serve  to  show  the  multi- 
plicity of  its  interests.  The  Hundred  Years'  War  between 
England  and  France;  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  House  of 
Burgundy;  the  struggle  between  the  old  and  the  new  con- 
ceptions of  ecclesiastical  polity  in  the  Papal  schism ;  the  coun- 
cils of  Constance  and  Basle,  and  the  Hussite  War ;  the  mar- 
vellous achievements  of  Venice  and  Florence  under  both 
republican  and  Medicean  rule ;  the  revival  of  art  and  letters 
in  many  large  and  small  centres ;  the  growth  and  decline  of 
great  corporations,  such  as  the  Hanseatic  League  and  the 
Teutonic  Order;  the  expansion  of  Christian  at  the  expense 
of  Mohammedan  Spain,  and,  per  contra,  the  conquest  of  the 
Eastern  Empire  by  the  Turks. 

The  present  work  presents  history  by  events  in  detail. 
and  does  not  pretend  to  give  a  general  review  of  the  course 
of  human  progress.  In  many  cases,  the  selections  will  he 
found  to  be  descriptions  of  events  specially  treated  without 


8  PREFACE 

reference  to  contemporary  history.  In  other  cases,  the  selec- 
tion shows  broader  treatment;  for  example,  the  Siege  of 
Syracuse  by  Creasy  gfives  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  Greek 
politics  of  the  day.  Carlyle's  Destruction  of  the  Bastille  is 
a  rhapsodical  account  of  a  special  tumult.  The  reader  will 
be  able  to  form  a  very  clear  idea,  however,  of  the  course  of 
history  from  the  events  selected  with  the  variety  of  treat- 
ment they  have  received  from  the  different  historians.  It 
will  be  well,  however,  here  to  give  a  rapid  summary  of  the 
general  movements  and  characteristics  of  the  centuries  of 
the  Christian  Era. 

The  First  Century  saw  the  first  serious  check  to  the 
Roman  arms  by  the  "barbarians"  under  Arminius,  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem,  the  assumption  of  dictatorial  power 
by  the  Pretorian  Guard  with  regard  to  the  succession,  and 
the  persecution  of  the  Christians. 

The  Second,  Third,  and  Fourth  Centuries  saw  the  splen- 
dors of  the  Antonines  and  the  vices  and  follies  of  their  suc- 
cessors, bewildering  revolutions,  wars  upon  the  frontier, 
torrents  of  barbarian  invasion,  and  the  still  greater  changes 
that  gave  the  world  a  new  religion.  By  the  end  of  the  Fifth 
Century,  Imperial  Rome  has  almost  insensibly  vanished 
from  the  scene,  and  Italy  has  become  a  Gothic  kingdom, 
surrounded  by  the  monarchies  of  Europe  in  the  first  stage 
of  their  formation.     The  Queen  of  the  East  has  arisen,  as 


PREFACE  » 

if  by  enchantment,  from  the  waters  of  the  Bosphorus,  and 
her  splendor  has  again  been  overcast.  Christianity  has  tri- 
umphed, but  the  triumph  has  been  abused  by  her  ministers. 
The  West  is  ripe  for  FeudaHsm;  and  the  Past  seems  to 
await  the  doom  of  her  idolatries  from  the  sword  of  Mo- 
hammed. 

During-  the  Fourth  and  Fifth  Centuries,  Christianity 
gradually  won  its  way  in  the  Roman  Empire,  and  was 
adopted  by  the  Teutonic  nations  who  had  settled  in  the 
Roman  dominions.  The  Romance  nations  arose  and  the 
English  first  assailed  Britain.  The  Western  Empire  was 
cut  up  till  Italy,  all  that  was  left  of  it,  was  nominally  joined 
again  to  the  Eastern  Empire.  Constantinople  was  the  cap- 
ital of  the  whole  Empire  when  united  and  of  the  Eastern 
portion  when  divided.  In  the  Sixth  Century,  the  Eastern 
Emperors  regained  some  of  their  lost  provinces,  including 
all  Italy,  Africa,  and  part  of  Spain.  But  the  Lombards 
soon  reconquered  the  greater  part  of  Italy.  In  the  Seventh 
Century,  Persia  and  the  Roman  Empire  alternately  threat- 
ened to  destroy  each  other.  Then  the  Saracens  conquered 
Persia,  the  Eastern  and  African  Roman  provinces,  Spain, 
and  part  of  Gaul.  In  the  meanwhile,  the  Franks  united 
Germany  and  Gaul  into  one  kingdom.  Called  into  Italy, 
their  king  was  elected  Emperor  of  the  Western  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  Eastern  Roman  Empire.  Thus,  in  the  Ninth 
Century  there  were  again  two  Roman  Empires,  one  German 


10  PREFACE 

and  the  other  Greek.    There  were  now,  also,  two  Caliphates, 
the  Eastern  one  being  pressed  by  the  Turks. 

The  Ninth  and  Tenth  Centuries  saw  the  birth  of  the 
chief  modern  nations  of  Europe.  The  Turkish  Kingdom 
of  the  West,  which  had  been  joined  to  the  Western  Empire 
under  Charlemagne,  broke  up  into  the  four  Kingdoms  of 
France,  Germany,  Burgundy,  and  Italy.  The  Kingdoms 
of  Germany  and  Italy  under  Otto  the  Great  were  united 
with  the  Western  Empire,  and  Burgundy  was  added  soon 
after.  The  union  of  the  Western  Kingdom  with  the  duchy 
of  France  gave  rise  to  modern  France.  In  Britain,  the  su- 
premacy of  Wessex  created  the  Kingdom  of  England.  In 
Scandinavia,  the  Kingdoms  of  Norway,  Sweden,  and  Den- 
mark were  formed,  and  Norse  settlements,  of  which  Nor- 
mandy was  the  chief,  were  made  in  Britain  and  on  the  Con- 
tinent. Under  Cnut,  a  great  northern  empire  was  tem- 
porarily created,  the  Danes  and  Northmen  being  at  the 
height  of  their  power.  The  Eastern  Empire  was  becom- 
ing almost  entirely  Greek,  and  its  power  increased  during 
the  Tenth  Century :  it  gained  territory  at  the  expense  of  the 
Saracens  and  Bulgarians.  Poles,  Russians,  and  Hunga- 
rians also  formed  Christian  Kingdoms. 

The  Eleventh  Century  saw  the  sway  of  the  Franconian 
Emperors,  the  beginnings  of  the  Crusades,  the  Turkish 
power,  and  the  struggle  between  the  Empire  and  the  Papacy. 


PREFACE  11 

The  Normans  conquered  England  and  the  Christians  began 
to  gain  ground  in  Spain.  During  the  Dark  Ages,  civiU- 
zation  and  Christianity  had  been  on  the  wane. 

The  Twelfth  and  Thirteenth  Centuries  were  strongly 
transitional.  They  saw  the  almost  universal  monarchy  of 
the  Papacy,  the  Crusades,  the  monastic  revivals,  a  strong 
though  limited  intellectual  revival,  and  a  resulting  marvel- 
lous development  of  art,  letters,  and  material  civilization.  It 
was  a  period  of  many-sided  activity  and  general  progress. 
It  was  "the  age  of  feudalism,  of  the  Papacy  and  the  Empire, 
of  the  Crusades,  of  chivalry,  of  scholasticism  and  the  early 
universities,  of  monasticism  in  its  noblest  types,  of  mediae- 
val art  in  its  highest  aspects,  and  of  national  monarchy  in 
its  earliest  form."  During  this  time  both  the  Eastern  and 
Western  Empire  practically  came  to  an  end,  for  though 
their  titles  persisted  they  were  no  longer  the  two  great 
powers  of  Europe.  The  two  Caliphates  also  came  to  an 
end.  The  Western  Caliphate  was  broken  up  into  small 
Kingdoms  till  St.  Ferdinand  (1217-1252)  won  back  Seville 
and  Cordova,  and  only  Granada  remained  to  the  Moors. 
The  Eastern  Caliphate  also  was  in  the  first  place  broken 
up  by  the  Moguls  in  1258.  There  was  no  longer,  therefore, 
any  universal  temporal  power,  either  Christian  or  Moham- 
medan. As  the  Emperors  grew  weaker,  the  Popes  grew 
stronger.  What  Christendom  lost  by  the  conquests  of  the 
Turks  in  the  Eastern  Empire  and  the  establishment  of  the 


12  PREFACE 

Mogul  power  in  Russia,  it  gained  by  the  recovery  of  Spain 
and  Sicily.  Castile  became  the  chief  power  in  Spain,  and 
after  a  struggle  with  the  Nonnan  and  Angevin  Kings  of 
England,  France  became  the  chief  power  in  Gaul.  The 
Imperial  power  was  weakened  in  Germany  and  Italy  to  the 
gain  of  the  princes  of  Germany  and  the  cities  of  Italy.  The 
Kingdom  of  Sicily  grew  up  and  broke  in  two  and  the  East- 
ern power  of  Venice  began.  The  Teutonic  Knights  hin- 
dered the  Eastern  growth  of  Denmark  and  originated  the 
power  of  Prussia.     The  Crusades  came  to  an  end. 

The  Fourteenth  and  Fifteenth  Centuries  laid  the  final 
foundation  for  Modern  History.  Both  Empires  really  came 
to  an  end.  The  Eastern  Empire  was  destroyed  by  the 
Turks;  and  the  Western  Empire  lost  all  its  power,  and 
Frederick  III,  (1452)  was  the  last  Emperor  crowned  at 
Rome.  While  a  great  Mohammedan  power  arose  at  By- 
zantium, Spain  got  rid  of  the  last  Mohammedan  Kingdom 
at  the  other  extremity  of  Europe,  and  Russia  freed  herself 
from  the  Mohammedans  in  the  Northeast.  The  long  and 
devastating  wars  between  England  and  France  began  and 
ended,  France  coming  out  of  the  contest  with  enlarged 
territories.  Protracted  civil  wars  raged  also  in  England. 
The  states  of  Burgundy  and  Switzerland  arose,  the  former 
coming  to  a  speedy  end,  and  the  latter  lasting.  In  Italy, 
most  of  the  commonwealths  fell  under  tyrants  who  grew 
into  princes,  and  the  Popes  became  mere  Italian  sovereigns. 


PREFACE  13 

In  Italy,  also,  learning  revived.  The  Scandinavian  King- 
doms were  somewhat  loosely  united.  Poland  grew  into  a 
great  power,  and  shared  with  Hungary  and  Venice  the  work 
of  defending  Christendom  against  the  Turks. 

The  Fifteenth  Century,  "the  threshold  of  modern  his- 
tory," witnessed  a  complete  revolution  in  the  aspect  and 
relations  of  society.  The  capture  of  Constantinople  scat- 
tered its  fugitive  scholars  over  Europe  as  missionaries  of 
classical  learning,  and  the  invention  of  printing  produced 
just  at  the  right  moment  a  ready  supply  for  the  intellectual 
demand  thus  newly  created.  The  use  of  gunpowder  revolu- 
tionized the  tactics  and  practice  of  war.  Kings  also  began 
to  keep  standing  armies.  Maritime  for  overland  commerce 
was  also  substituted  by  the  discoveries  of  the  New  World 
and  the  Cape  passage  to  India.  , 

During  the  Sixteenth  Century,  there  were  great  changes 
in  the  relative  importance  of  the  European  powers.  Though 
the  title  of  Emperor  was  still  given  to  the  German  kings  of 
the  House  of  Austria,  the  Empire  practically  came  to  an 
end.  The  Spanish  branch  of  that  House  rose  to  the  first 
place  in  Europe.  The  Italian  States  became  dependencies 
of  Spain,  except  so  far  as  Venice  still  remained  a  bulwark 
against  the  Turks.  Hungary  ceased  to  be  an  independent 
kingdom ;  the  Turks  held  the  greater  part,  and  the  Austrian 
archdukes  were  kings  of  the  rest.     Under  the  House  of 


14  PREFACE 

Jagellon,  Poland  at  this  period  was  one  of  the  greatest 
States  in  Europe,  stretching  over  a  great  part  of  Russia. 
The  Teutonic  knights  were  abohshed,  and  their  Grand  Mas- 
ter became  hereditary  Duke  of  East  Prussia,  A  new  nation 
was  formed  by  the  revolt  of  the  United  Provinces  against 
Spain.  Sweden  suddenly  became  one  of  the  chief  powers 
of  Europe,  and  Russia  took  the  first  steps  toward  greatness 
under  Ivan  the  Terrible.  Meanwhile,  the  changes  in  relig- 
ion split  the  churches  in  the  West  altogether  asunder,  and 
the  religious  wars  began. 

The  first  half  of  the  Seventeenth  Century  in  England 
was  filled  with  the  Puritan  Revolution,  culminating  with  the 
Protectorate.  Northern  Europe  was  convulsed  with  the 
great  religious  wars;  while  France  under  Richelieu  was 
^  curbing  the  nobility  and  the  Huguenots.  The  power  of 
Spain  was  crumbling,  till  at  last  the  great  Spanish  mon- 
archy was  altogether  cut  to  pieces.  France  now  took  the 
lead  in  Europe  instead  of  Spain,  and  grew  so  fast  under 
Louis  XIV.  that  the  union  of  several  other  powers  was 
needed  to  keep  her  in  check.  After  the  second  revolution, 
England  assumed  a  high  place  in  Continental  afifairs.  She 
also  planted  many  colonies  in  America.  The  Empire  had 
become  a  mere  name ;  but  the  Emperors,  as  Austrian  princes, 
had  gained  greatly  in  the  Netherlands  and  Italy,  and  also 
as  Kings  of  Hungary  against  the  Turks.  Prussia  was 
growing  up  into  a  great  German  power.     Italy  was  dead, 


PREFACE  15 

save  that  Savoy  was  advancing  and  Venice  was  gallantly 
maintaining  her  strength  with  the  Turks.  By  the  time 
Louis  XIV.  was  dead,  Sweden  and  Poland  had  fallen  from 
the  rank  of  great  powers.  Russia,  however,  had  sprung 
up  and  was  rapidly  growing  at  the  expense  of  Sweden, 
Poland,  and  Turkey. 

The  Eighteenth  Century  saw  the  decline  and  fall  of 
Spain  as  a  first-class  power.  England  and  Scotland  united 
more  closely  and  began  to  take  a  more  important  part  in 
Continental  affairs,  winning  a  foothold  in  the  Mediterra- 
nean for  the  first  time.  The  German  power,  Brandenburg 
or  Prussia,  rose  to  greatness,  and  Russia  also  constantly 
increased  in  power.  Sweden,  Poland,  and  Turkey  greatly 
declined.  The  Dutch  power  increased  in  the  East  at  the 
expense  of  the  Portuguese,  and  the  British  supplanted 
the  French  in  India.  The  end  of  the  period  saw  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  United  States.  Italy  scarcely  existed  po- 
litically except  as  the  battlefield  for  other  powers,  but  the 
House  of  Savoy  was  pushing  its  way  into  prominence. 
The  greatest  events  of  the  century  were  the  foundation 
of  the  United  States  and  the  French  Revolution.  By 
the  end  of  the  century,  Europe  was  more  changed  than 
it  had  ever  been  before  in  the  same  space  of  time.  Old 
ideas  and  old  institutions  were  utterly  swept  away 
by  the  Revolution  in  a  way  that  had  never  happened 
before. 


16 


PREFACE 


The  Nineteenth  Century  saw  great  changes.  The  fall 
of  Napoleon  made  little  difference  to  France  from  a  terri- 
torial point  of  view.  She  came  out  of  the  great  war  with 
nearly  the  same  boundaries  and  under  the  same  dynasty 
that  she  had  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  but  her 
internal  state  was  entirely  changed.  England  had  raised 
her  position  in  Europe  to  the  highest  point;  her  European 
acquisitions  of  territory  were  represented  by  only  one  or 
two  small  islands,  but  her  colonial  possessions  had  been 
vastly  increased.  The  German  Empire  had  given  way  to 
a  Confederation :  Italy  was  still  cut  up  into  small  States 
in  which  Austrian  influence  was  dominant.  The  old  Span- 
ish dynasty  had  been  restored  and  Portugal  was  governed 
by  Brazil.  Sweden  had  finally  given  up  all  territory  south 
and  east  of  the  Baltic,  and  Scandinavia,  though  still  two 
kingdoms,  had  only  one  King.  The  Netherlands  now 
also  formed  a  kingdom.  France  rapidly  recovered  from 
the  Napoleonic  Wars  and  resumed  her  influence  in  the 
councils  of  Europe.  After  several  revolutions,  her  ambi- 
tion to  be  paramount  was  defeated  by  the  allied  German 
States  who  deprived  her  of  some  of  her  former  conquests. 
The  unification  of  Germany  and  restoration  of  the  Empire 
were  the  direct  results  of  the  war.  The  various  Italian 
States  united  in  one  kingdom  under  the  House  of  Savoy 
and  got  rid  of  Austrian  rule.  Austria  united  with  Hun- 
gary to  form  a  dual  kingdom.  All  vestiges  of  Polish  in- 
dependence were  destroyed  by  Russia  and  Denmark  was 


PREFACE  17 

shorn  of  the  duchies.  Two  new  kingdoms,  Belgium  and 
Greece,  were  formed  and  guaranteed  by  the  Powers.  Not- 
withstanding the  temporary  check  of  the  Crimean  War, 
Russia  has  greatly  increased  in  aggressiveness  and  power, 
principally  at  Turkey's  expense.  Spain's  loss  of  her  co- 
lonial possessions,  Japan's  rise  to  the  rank  of  a  first-class 
Power,  and  the  wonderful  strides  in  prosperity  and  influ- 
ence made  by  the  United  States,  mark  the  closing  years  of 
the  century. 

The  selection  of  the  events  has  been  guided  by  several 
considerations.  In  representing  a  great  event,  it  has  fre- 
quently been  found  difficult  to  take  the  work  of  a  great 
historian  on  account  of  the  amount  of  space  he  devotes 
to  it,  and  the  small  amount  of  space  available  in  these 
pages.  Whenever  possible,  however,  a  famous  name  has 
been  chosen  and  the  material  has  been  cut  down  to  the 
limits  assigned.  Beyond  cutting  out  sentences  and  para- 
graphs, no  other  liberties  have  been  taken  with  the  text. 

In  the  above  general  review  of  the  historical  field,  I 
have  adopted  the  views,  and  occasionally  the  words,  of 
historical  authorities. 

E.  S. 

New  York,   September,    1903. 


THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


VOLUME       ONE 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

VOLUME    ONE 

The  Deluge.    From  Engraving  by  Martin. 

Dido  Building  Carthage   (The  Founding  of  Carthage — b.c.   872). 

From   Painting  by  Turner. 
The  Fall  of  Jerusalem    (b.c.   586).    From   Painting  by   Kaulbach. 
The   Nativity   of   Christ.     From    Painting  by   Correggio. 
The  Crucifixion  of  Christ   (a.d.  33).    From   Painting  by   Hilton. 
The  Persecution  of  the  Christians   (a.d.  64-303).     From  Painting 

by  Gerome. 


CONTENTS 


VOLUME      ONE 

B.C.  4004— A. D.  70 

From  the  Creation  of  the  World  to  the  Fall  of  Troy  (b.c. 

4004-1 184).     Jacques   Benigne   Bossuet 25 

The  Deluge.     Francois  Lenormant 35 

The  Founding  of  Chaldea    (b.c.  2250).     George  Rawlinson  .    .  45 

Zoroaster    (about  b.c.    iooo).     James   Darmesteter 58 

The  Delphic  Oracle.     William  Mitford 69 

The  Founding  of  Carthage  (b.c.  872).    Frangois  Lenormant  .     .  79 

Laws  of  Lycurgus    (b.c.  820).   Plutarch 84 

First  Destruction  of  Nineveh  (b.c.  789).    Frangois  Lenormant  .  96 

The  Olympic  Games  (b.c.  776).     Max  Duncker 103 

The  Founding  of  Rome  (b.c.  753).    Plutarch 112 

Gautama  Buddha   (b.c.  623-543).     T.  W,  Rhys-Davids  ....  124 

Laws   of   Solon    (b.c.    597).      Plutarch 136 

The  Fall  of  Tyre  and  the  Siege  of  Jerusalem  (b.c.  586).    G. 

Maspero 148 

Cyrus  Founds  Persia  (b.c.  558).     George  Rawlinson 159 

Confucius  (b.c.  550-478).    James  Legge 168 

The  Conquest  of  Lydia  (b.c.  548),    Herodotus 179 

The  Fall  of  Babylon   (b.c.  538).     Sir  Walter  Raleigh   .     .     .  188 

Conquest  of  Egypt  by  Cambyses   (b.c.  525).     G.   Maspero  .     .  197 

Expulsion  of  the  Peisistrat/e  (b.c.  510).    William  Mitford  .     .  208 

Expulsion  of  the  Tarquins    (b.c.   510).     Thomas  Arnold   .     .  220 

The  Battle  of  Marathon  (b.c.  490).    Sir  Edward  Bulwer-Lytton  236 

The  Battle  of  Salamis   (b.c.  480).     Plutarch 247 

Fall  of  the  Decemvirate  (b.c.  449).     Charles  Merivale  .     .     .  261 

The  Plague  at  Athens   (b.c.  420).     Thucydides 271 


24  CONTENTS 

Siege  of  Syracuse  (b.c.  415).     E.  S.  Creasy 279 

Expedition  of  the  Ten  Thousand  (b.c.  400).    Leopold  von  Ranke  296 

Death  of  Socrates  (b.c.  399).    Plato 302 

The  Gauls'  First  Attack  on  Rome  (b.c.  390).  Livy  ....  311 
End  of  the  Peloponnesian  War   (Battle  of  Cheronea)    (b.c. 

338).      Leopold    von    Ranke 324 

The  Battle  of  Arbela  (b.c.  331).     E.  S.  Creasy 337 

The  Battle  of  the  Metaurus  (b.c.  207).     E.  S.  Creasy  .     .     .  359 

The  Fall  of  Carthage  (b.c.  150-146).     Henry  George  Liddell  .  383 

The  Fall  of  Greece  (b.c.  151-146).  Henry  George  Liddell  .  .  398 
Social  and  Mithridatic  Wars   (b.c.  90-64).     Edward  Augustus 

Freeman 407 

The  Battle  of  Actium    (b.c.  31).     Plutarch 4^5 

The  Nativity  of  Christ.     Frederic  W.  Farrar 431 

Victory  of  Arminius  (a.d.  9).    E.  S.  Creasy 44^ 

The  Crucifixion  (a.d.  33).    Frederic  W.  Farrar 454 

Persecutions  of  the  Christians  (a.d.  64-303).    William  Francis 

Collier        474 

The  Siege  of  Jerusalem   (a.d.  70).     Heinrich  Graetz  ....  485 


FROM  THE  CREATION  OF  THE  WORLD 
TO  THE  FALL  OF  TROY 

(B.C.  4004—1 184) 

JACQUES    BENIGNE    BOSSUET 

THE  first  epoch  immediately  presents  to 
you  a  grand  and  awful  spectacle;  God^^^^f^fhe 
creating  the  heavens  and  the  earth  by'''°'''^" 
his  word,  and  making  man  after  his  own 
image.  With  this  begins  Moses,  the  most 
ancient  of  historians,  most  sublime  of  phi- 
losophers, and  wisest  of  legislators. 

Thus  he  lays  the  foundation  as  well  of  his 
history  as  of  his  doctrines  and  laws.    Next  he 

,  , ,  _     .  ■,     .  J  Creation  of 

shows  us  all  men  contamed  m  one  man,  and  man. 
his  wife  extracted  from  him;  matrimonial 
union  and  the  society  of  mankind  established 
upon  this  foundation;  the  perfection  and 
power  of  man,  so  far  as  he  bears  the  image  of 
God  in  his  first  estate;  his  dominion  over  ani- 
mals; his  innocence,  together  with  his  felicity, 
in  paradise,  the  memory  whereof  is  preserved 
in  the  golden  age  of  the  poets ;  the  divine  com- 
mand given  to  our  first  parents;  the  malice  of 
the  tempting  spirit,  and  his  appearance  under 
the  form  of  a  serpent;  the  fall  of  Adam  and^^cfaHof 
Eve,  fatal  to  all  their  posterity;  the  first  man 
justly  punished  in  all  his  children,  and  man- 

9  Vol.    1 


26 


THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


Abel  and 
Cain  con- 
trasted. 


Degrada- 
tion of 
mankind. 


kind  cursed  by  God;  the  first  promise  of  re- 
demption, and  the  future  victory  of  men  over 
the  devil  who  had  undone  them. 

The  earth  begins  to  be  filled,  and  wicked- 
ness increases.  Cain,  the  first  son  of  Adam 
and  Eve,  shows  the  infant  world  the  first  trag- 
ical action;  and  from  that  time  virtue  dates 
her  persecution  from  vice.  There  we  see  the 
contrary  manners  of  the  two  brothers;  the  in- 
nocence of  Abel,  his  pastoral  life,  and  his  of- 
ferings accepted;  those  of  Cain  rejected,  his 
avarice,  his  impiety,  his  fratricide  and  jeal- 
ousy, the  parent  of  murders;  the  punishment 
of  that  crime,  the  conscience  of  the  parricide 
racked  with  continual  terrors;  the  first  city 
built  by  this  miscreant,  now  a  vagabond  upon 
the  face  of  the  earth,  seeking  an  asylum  from 
the  hatred  and  horror  of  mankind;  the  inven- 
tion of  some  arts  by  his  children;  the  tyranny 
of  passions,  and  the  prodigious  malignity  of 
man's  heart  ever  prone  to  evil;  the  posterity 
of  Seth,  faithful  to  God,  notwithstanding  that 
depravation;  the  pious  Enoch,  miraculously 
snatched  out  of  the  world,  which  was  not 
worthy  of  him;  the  distinction  of  the  chil- 
dren of  God  from  the  children  of  man;  that 
is,  of  those  who  lived  after  the  spirit  from 
those  who  lived  after  the  flesh;  their  inter- 
mixture, and  the  universal  corruption  of  the 
world;  the  destruction  of  men  decreed  by  a 
just  judgment  of  God;  his  wrath  denounced 
against  sinners  by  his  servant  Noah;  their  im- 


O 


B.C.  4004 


THE    CREATION    OF    THE    WORLD  27 


penitence  and  hardness  of  heart  punished  at 
last  by  the  Deluge;  Noah  and  his  family  re- 
served for  the  restoration  of  mankind. 

This  is  the  sum  of  what  passed  in  1,656  The  begin, 
years.  Such  is  the  beginnmg  of  all  histories,  histories. 
wherein  are  displayed  the  omnipotence,  wis- 
dom, and  goodness  of  God;  innocence  happy 
under  his  protection;  his  justice  in  avenging 
crimes,  and  at  the  same  time  his  long-suffer- 
ing patience  in  waiting  the  conversion  of  sin- 
ners; the  greatness  and  dignity  of  mankind  in 
their  primitive  state;  the  temper  of  mankind 
after  their  corruption,  the  nature  of  jealousy, 
and  the  secret  causes  of  violences  and  of  wars, 
that  is,  all  the  foundations  of  religion  and 
morality. 

With  mankind  Noah  preserved  the  arts,  as  Noah  pre- 

'■  ,  '  serves  the 

well  those  which  were  essential  to  human  life,  =^'^'^- 
and  which  men  knew  from  their  original, 
as  those  they  had  afterward  invented.  Those 
first  arts  which  men  learned  immediately,  and 
probably  from  their  creator,  were  agricul- 
ture, the  pastoral  art,  that  of  clothing  them- 
selves, and,  perhaps,  that  of  building  houses 
for  their  accommodation.  And,  indeed,  do 
we  not  trace  the  commencement  of  those  arts 
from  those  places  of  the  East  from  whence 
mankind  was  propagated? 

The  tradition  of  the  universal  Deluge  pre-  Theoeiuge 
vails  over  all  the  earth.     The  Ark,  wherein 
the  remnant  of  mankind  was  saved,  has  ever 
been  celebrated  in  the  East,  particularly  in 


28 


THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  2348 


Second  ag'c 
of  the 
world, 
B.C.  avjS. 


The  three 
fathers  of 
nations. 


The  first 

conqueror, 

Nimrod. 


those  places  where  it  rested  after  the  Deluge. 
Many  other  circumstances  of  that  famous 
story  are  to  be  found  marked  in  the  annals 
and  traditions  of  ancient  nations;  the  times 
agree  and  everything  answers  as  far  as  could 
be  expected  in  so  remote  a  piece  of  antiquity. 

Near  the  Deluge  are  to  be  ranged  the  de- 
crease of  man's  life,  the  alteration  of  diet,  and 
a  new  food  substituted  in  place  of  the  fruits 
of  the  earth;  some  oral  precepts  delivered  to 
Noah ;  the  confusion  of  languages  at  the 
Tower  of  Babel,  which  was  the  first  monu- 
ment of  the  pride  and  weakness  of  men;  the 
portion  of  the  three  sons  of  Noah,  and  the 
first  distribution  of  lands. 

The  memory  of  those  three  first  fathers  of 
nations  has  still  been  preserved  among  men. 
Japetus,  who  peopled  the  greatest  part  of 
the  western  world,  has  continued  famous 
there  under  the  celebrated  name  of  Japheth. 
Ham  and  his  son  Canaan  have  been  no  less 
noted  among  the  Egyptians  and  Phenicians; 
and  the  memory  of  Shem  has  ever  lasted  with 
the  Hebrew  people,  who  are  descended  from 
him. 

A  little  after  this  first  division  of  mankind, 
Nimrod,  a  man  of  a  fierce  and  violent  dispo- 
sition, becomes  the  first  conqueror;  and  such 
is  the  origin  of  conquests.  He  sets  up  the 
throne  of  his  kingdom  at  Babylon,  in  the  same 
place  where  the  tower  had  been  begun,  and 
already  raised  to  a  great  height,  but  not  so 


B.C.  19"  THE    CALLING    OF    ABRAHAM  29 

high  as  man's  vanity  wished  it.     About  the 
same  time  Nineveh  was  built,  and  some  an- ing^of"' 

'  Nineveh. 

cient  kingdoms  established.  They  were  but 
petty  in  those  early  times,  for  in  Egypt  alone 
we  find  four  dynasties  or  principalities,  those 
of  Thebes,  Thin,  Memphis,  and  Tanis;  this 
last  was  the  capital  of  the  lower  Egypt.  To 
this  time  we  may  also  refer  the  commence- 
ment of  the  laws  and  polity  of  the  Egyptians, 
that  of  their  pyramids  which  stand  to  this  day, 
and  that  of  the  astronomical  observations,  as 
well  of  that  people  as  of  the  Chaldeans.  So  we 
may  trace  up  to  this  time,  and  no  higher,  the 
observations  which  the  Chaldeans,  who  were, 
without  dispute,  the  first  observers  of  the  stars, 
gave  in  Babylon  to  Calisthenes  for  Aristotle. 
Four  hundred  and  twenty-six  years  after  the 
Deluge,  when  men  walked  every  one  in  his 
own  way,  and  grew  forgetful  of  him  that  made 
them,  that  great  God,  to  stop  the  progress  of 
so  great  an  evil,  in  the  midst  of  corruption  be- 
gan to  set  apart  a  chosen  people  for  himself. 
Abraham  was  made  choice  of  to  be  the  stock 
and  father  of  all  believers.  God  called  him  Jgh^^^^^-^jf^ 
into  the  land  of  Canaan,  where  he  intended  to  ^u'ng 'il^ 
establish  his  worship,  and  the  children  of  thatB-c'Vi*!*' 
patriarch,  whom  he  had  resolved  to  multiply 
as  the  stars  of  heaven,  and  as  the  sand  of  the 
sea.  To  the  promise  he  made  him  of  giving 
that  land  to  his  offspring,  he  added  somewhat 
far  more  glorious,  and  this  was  that  great 
blessing  which  was  to  be  extended  to  all  the 


B.C.  1689. 


80  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  0.0.1571 

nations  of  the  world  in  Jesus  Christ  proceed- 
ing from  his  race. 

After  Abraham  we  find  Isaac,  his  son,  and 
Jacob,  his  grandson,  imitators  of  his  faith  and 
simplicity  in  the  same  pastoral  life.  God  re- 
peats to  them  also  the  same  promises  he  had 
made  to  their  father,  and  conducts  them,  as 
he  had  done  him,  in  all  things.  Jacob  dies, 
and  a  little  before  his  death  he  makes  that 
celebrated  prophecy,  where  in  discovering  to 
his  children  the  state  of  their  posterity,  he 
points  out  particularly  to  Judah  the  times  of 
the  Messiah,  who  was  to  spring  from  his  race. 
The  house  of  that  patriarch  in  a  little  time 
becomes  a  great  nation;  this  prodigious  multi- 
plication excites  the  jealousy  of  the  Egyptians; 
the  Hebrews  are  unjustly  hated  and  unmerci- 
fully persecuted:  God  raises  up  Moses,  their 
deliverer,  whom  he  saves  from  the  waters  of 
the  Nile,  and  makes  him  fall  into  the  hands 
of  Pharaoh's  daughter;  she  brings  him  up  as 
her  own  son,  and  causes  him  to  be  instructed 
in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians. 

This  great  man,  losing  hopes  of  delivering 
his  people,  or  waiting  a  better  opportunity, 
had  spent  forty  years  in  feeding  the  flocks  of 
Jethro,  his  father-in-law,  when  he  saw  the 
burning  bush  in  the  desert,  and  heard  the 
voice  of  the  God  of  his  fathers,  who  sent  him 
back  into  Egypt  to  bring  his  brethren  out  of 
bondage.  Then  appear  the  humility,  the 
courage  and  the  miracles  of  that  divine  law- 


B.C.  1571. 


B.C.  X49I  THE    EPOCH    OF    MOSES  31 

giver;  the  hardness  of  Pharaoh's  heart,  and 
the  terrible  plagues  God  sends  upon  him; 
the  Passover,  and  next  the  passage  of  the 
Red  Sea;  Pharaoh  and  the  Egyptians  buried 
in  the  waters  and  the  total  deliverance  of  the 
Israelites. 

Here  begin  the  times  of  the  written  law.  Epoch  of 

Moses  or 

It  was  given  to  Moses  430  years  after  the  call- thejvriuen 
ing  of  Abraham,  856  years  after  the  Deluge,  ''•^-  '«'• 
and  in  the  same  year  that  the  Hebrew  people 
came  out  of  Egypt.  This  date  is  remarkable, 
being  made  use  of  to  denominate  all  the  time 
from  Moses  to  Jesus  Christ.  All  that  time  is 
called  the  time  of  the  written  law  to  distin- 
guish it  from  the  preceding,  called  the  time  of 
the  law  of  nature,  wherein  men  had  nothing 
to  direct  them  but  natural  reason  and  the  tra- 
ditions of  their  ancestors. 

God  then  having  set  his  people  free  from 
the  tyranny  of  the  Egyptians,  in  order  to  con- 
duct them  into  the  land  where  he  will  be 
served  and  before  he  settles  them  in  it,  sets 
forth  to  them  the  law  by  which  they  are  to 
live.  He  writes  with  his  own  hand  upon  two  The 
tables,  which  he  gives  to  Moses  on  the  top  of 
Mount  Sinai,  the  foundation  of  that  law, 
that  is,  the  Decalogue,  or  ten  commandments, 
which  contain  the  first  principles  of  the  wor- 
ship of  God  and  of  human  society. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  journeyings  of  the 
people  of  God  in  the  wilderness,  we  see  the 
beginning  of  the  wars  which  the  prayers  of 


32  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  1267 

Moses  render  successful.  He  dies  and  leaves 
m"m.°  the  Israelites  their  whole  history,  which  he 
had  carefully  digested  from  the  origin  of  the 
world  down  to  the  time  of  his  death.  That 
history  is  continued  by  the  command  of 
Joshua  and  his  successors.  It  was  afterward 
divided  into  several  books,  which  are  handed 
down  to  us  under  the  titles  of  Joshua,  Judges, 
and  the  four  books  of  Kings.  The  history 
which  Moses  had  written  and  wherein  the 
whole  law  was  contained,  was  also  parted  into 
ThePenta-  five  books,  callcd  the  Pentateuch,  which  are 

teucn.  '  ' 

the  foundation  of  religion.  After  the  death 
of  the  man  of  God,  we  find  the  wars  of  Joshua, 
the  conquest  and  division  of  the  Holy  Land, 
and  the  rebellions  of  the  people  who  are  at 
various  times  chastised  and  re-established. 

During  this  age  there  happened  some  very 
considerable  events  among  the  Gentiles;  for 
if  we  follow  the  computation  of  Herodotus, 
which  seems  the  most  exact,  we  must  place  in 
these  times,  514  years  before  Rome,  and  in  the 
time  of  Deborah,  Ninus  the  son  of  Belus,  and 
the  foundation  of  the  first  empire  of  the  As- 
syrians. The  seat  of  it  was  established  at 
Nineveh,  an  ancient  and  already  famous  city, 
but  beautified  and  adorned  by  Ninus.    Those 

B.C.   1267.  -' 

who  give  1,300  years  to  the  first  Assyrians,  go 
upon  the  antiquity  of  the  city;  and  Herodotus, 
who  allows  them  but  500,  speaks  only  of  the 
duration  of  the  empire,  which  they  began  un- 
der Ninus,  son  of  Belus,  to  extend  into  upper 


B.C.  ii84  THE    FALL    OP    TROY  33 

Asia.  A  little  after,  and  during  that  con- 
queror's reign,  ought  to  be  placed  the  foun- 
dation, or  rebuilding  of  the  ancient  city  of 
Tyre,  so  celebrated  for  its  navigation  and  colo- 
nies. Some  time  after  Abimelech,  we  find  the 
famous  combats  of  Hercules,  son  of  Amphit- H°eTcuks°* 
ryon,  and  those  of  Theseus,  King  of  Athens,  Theseus. 
who  made  but  one  city  of  the  twelve  boroughs 
of  Cecrops,  and  gave  a  better  form  of  govern- 
ment to  the  Athenians.  In  the  days  of  Jeph- 
thah,  while  Semiramis,  widow  of  Ninus,  and 
guardian  of  Ninyas,  enlarged  the  empire  of 
the  Assyrians  by  her  conquests,  the  celebrated 
city  of  Troy,  already  taken  over  by  the  Greeks, 
under  Laomedon,  its  third  king,  was  again 
reduced  to  ashes  by  the  Greeks,  in  the  reign  of 
Priam,  son  of  Laomedon,  after  the  siege  of 
ten  years. 

This  epoch  of  the  destruction  of  Troy,  which  IgeoWi" 
happened  about  the  308th  year  after  the  de-  ^r'V 
parture  out  of  Egypt,  and  1,164  years  after 
the  Deluge,  is  considerable,  as  well  by  reason 
of  the  importance  of  so  great  an  event  cele- 
brated by  the  two  greatest  poets  of  Greece  and 
Italy;  as  because  to  this  date  may  be  referred 
whatever  is  most  remarkable  in  the  times 
called  fabulous,  or  heroic;  fabulous,  on  ac- 
count of  the  fables,  wherein  the  histories  of 
those  times  are  inwrapped;  heroic,  on  account 
of  those  whom  the  poets  have  styled  sons  of 
the  gods  and  heroes.  They  lived  not  far  from 
this  period;   for  in   the  days  of  Laomedon, 


34  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  ..s* 

Priam's  father,  appear  all  the  heroes  of  the 
Golden  Fleece;  Jason,  Hercules,  Orpheus, 
Castor  and  Pollux,  and  the  rest,  whom  you 
The  taking  vcry  wcll  know ;  and  in  the  time  of  Priam 
'"''■  himself,  during  the  last  siege  of  Troy,  we  see 
Achilles,  Agamemnon,  Menelaus,  Ulysses, 
Hector,  Sarpedon,  son  of  Jupiter,  i^neas,  son 
of  Venus,  whom  the  Romans  acknowledge  for 
their  founder;  and  so  many  others,  from  whom 
illustrious  families  and  whole  nations  have 
gloried  to  descend. 


THE   DELUGE 

FRANCOIS    LENORMANT 

5 

THE  one  tradition  which  is  really  uni-  umversau- 
versal  among  those  bearing  on  the  his-  i^eiuge.^ 
tory  of  primitive  man  is  that  of  the 
Deluge.  It  would,  perhaps,  be  too  much  to 
say  that  it  is  found  among  all  people;  but  it 
occurs  among  all  the  great  races  of  the  human 
species,  with  one  important  exception,  the 
black  race,  among  whom  no  trace  of  the  tra- 
dition has  been  found,  either  among  the  Afri- 
can tribes  or  the  populations  of  Polynesia. 
This  absolute  silence  of  a  whole  race  as  to 
the  memory  of  an  event  so  important,  in  the 
face  of  the  unanimous  voice  of  all  the  others, 
is  a  fact  which  science  should  carefully  note, 
for  it  may  involve  most  important  conse- 
quences. 

But  we  must  first  eliminate  some  legends 
which  have  been  erroneously  connected  with 
the  Biblical  Deluge,  whose  essential  features, 
however,  compel  sound  criticism  to  reject 
them.  They  refer  only  to  merely  local  phe- (,f,i„ggg 
nomena,  of  a  historical  date,  relatively  very  ?eiaieS!" 
near  our  own.  Such  is  the  character  of  the 
great  inundation  placed  by  the  historical  rec- 
ords of  China  under  the  reign  of  Yao.    It  has 

(35) 


86  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 

no  real  connection  with,  and  not  even  any  re- 
semblance to,  the  Biblical  Deluge;  it  was  an 
event  purely  local,  and  its  date  even  can  be 
determined  as  long  subsequent  to  the  com- 
mencement of  historical  times  in  Egypt  and 
Babylon. 
A  South         Not  less  clear  is  the  local  character  of  the 

American 

legend.  legend  of  Bochica  related  by  the  Muyscas, 
ancient  inhabitants  of  the  province  of  Cundi- 
namarca,  in  South  America,  though  the  fabu- 
lous element  is  here  in  greater  proportion 
to  the  historical  foundation.  Huythaca,  wife 
of  the  divine  man  Bochica,  gave  herself  up 
to  abominable  sorceries,  to  cause  the  river 
Funzha  to  leave  its  bed.  All  the  plain  of 
Bogota  was  inundated,  men  and  animals  per- 
ished in  this  catastrophe,  a  few  only  escaped  by 
reaching  the  high  mountains.  The  tradition 
adds  that  Bochica  broke  open  the  rocks  which 
form  the  valley  of  Canoas  and  Tequendama,  to 
allow  of  the  escape  of  the  waters;  afterward 
he  reassembled  the  dispersed  people  of  the 
Muyscas  tribe,  taught  them  the  worship  of 
the  sun,  and  died. 

Of  all  the  true  traditions  relative  to  the  great 
Deluge,  by  far  the  most  curious  is  that  of  the 
Chaldeans,  made  known  to  the  Greeks  by  the 
historian  Berosus.  It  is  a  story  more  exactly 
parallel  to  that  of  the  Bible  than  any  other, 
omitting  no  characteristic  particular  in  the  de- 
tail, even  to  the  birds  sent  out  of  the  ark.  It 
must  be  evident  to  any  one  who  compares  the 


THE    DELUGE  37 

two  narratives  that  they  were  one  up  to  the 
time  when  Abraham  went  out  from  among  the 
Chaldeans  to  journey  to  Palestine.  But  in 
the  Chaldean  cosmogony,  the  tradition  em- 
bodies no  moral  lesson,  as  does  the  Bible  nar- 
rative. The  Deluge  is  but  an  accidental 
event,  a  sort  of  fatal  accident  in  the  history  of  Thechai- 

'  .  dean 

the  world,  in  place  of  being  a  punishment '«&end. 
sent  for  the  sins  of  mankind.  The  man  chosen 
by  heaven  to  escape  the  Deluge  is  called  by 
Berosus,  Xisuthrus,  a  name  the  original  form 
of  which  we  do  not  know,  and  therefore  can 
not  guess  its  meaning.  The  Chaldean  legend 
adds  one  incident,  not  to  be  found  in  the 
Bible:  Xisuthrus,  warned  by  the  gods  of  the 
approaching  Deluge,  buried  at  Sippara,  the 
city  of  the  Sun,  tables,  on  which  were  en- 
graven the  revelation  of  the  mysteries  of  the 
origin  of  the  world,  and  of  religious  ordi- 
nances. His  children  dug  them  up  after  the 
Deluge,  and  they  became  the  basis  of  the  sacer- 
dotal institutions  of  Chaldea.      On  the  other  Egyptian 

monuments 

hand,  the  original  monuments  and  texts  of  X'3^,j,"„"° 
Egypt,  amid  all  their  speculations  on  the  cos- 
mogony, do  not  contain  one  single,  even  dis- 
tant, allusion  to  the  recollection  of  a  Deluge. 
The  importance  of  the  tradition  of  the  Del- 
uge among  all  the  Aryan  people  is  the  greater 
when  we  remember  that  the  name  of  "Noah," 
unlike  those  of  the  other  primitive  patriarchs, 
bears  no  appropriate  meaning  in  any  of  the 
Semitic    idioms,    and    appears    to    derive    its 


88  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 

origin  from  some  one  of  the  languages  of  the 
Noih"c™rf-   Aryan  stock.     Its  fundamental  root  is  Na,  to 

ncctcd  with        ,    .     ,       .  i .       .         i  /-      i         i 

water.  which  m  all  the  languages  of  the  latter  race, 
is  attached  the  meaning  of  water — vdeiv,  to 
flow,  vd/ia,  water,  k7?/££i/,  to  swim;  Nympha, 
Neptunus,  water  deities,  Nix,  Nick,  the  Un- 
dine of  the  northern  races.  It  seems  then  to 
have  been  applied  by  tradition,  precisely  on 
account  of  the  Deluge,  to  that  righteous  man 
who  was  spared  by  the  Divine  will,  and  may 
consequently  be  compared  to  the  name  Ogy- 
ges,  embodying  a  similar  idea,  which  one  of 
the  forms  of  the  Greek  legend  connects  with 
the  Deluge. 

This  observation  on  the  probability  of  an 
Aryan  origin  for  the  name  of  Noah  makes  it 
easy  to  see  why  we  find  it,  with  the  slight 
modification  of  a  reduplication  of  the  first  syl- 
lable, in  that  of  the  King  Nannachus,  under 
whom  the  Phrygian  tradition  placed  the  Del- 
uge.   The  memory  of  this  event  had  a  great 

Phyrgian  placc  in  thc  Icgcnds  of  Phrygia.  The  city  of 
Apamea  drew  from  it  its  surname  of  "Kibo- 
tos,"  or  "Ark,"  professing  to  be  the  place 
where  the  Ark  rested.  Also  the  history  of 
Noah,  with  his  name,  was  inscribed  on  cer- 
tain medals  which  issued  from  the  mint  of 
Apamea  in  the  Third  Century  of  our  era, 
when  Christian  ideas  had  spread  over  all  the 
Roman  world  and  begun  to  infuse  themselves 
into  the  minds  of  those  even  who  remained 
attached  to  Paganism. 


THE    DELUGE  39 

Among  the  American  legends  on  the  Del- 
uge, the  most  important  are  those  of  Mexico,  ^'jf,^'!^^-^ 
as  they  existed  in  a  written  and  definite  form 
previous  to  any  contact  with  Europeans.  Don 
Fernando  d'Alva  Extlilxochitl,  in  his  history 
of  the  Chichimeques,  entirely  founded  on  na- 
tive documents,  says  that,  according  to  the 
traditions  of  that  people,  the  first  age,  called 
Atonatiuh,  that  is,  'The  Sun  of  the  Waters," 
was  terminated  by  a  universal  deluge.  The 
Noah  of  the  Mexican  cataclysm  is  Coxcox, 
called  by  some  people  Teo  Cipactli,  or  Tezpi. 
He  saved  himself  with  his  wife,  Xochiquet- 
zal,  in  a  bark,  or,  according  to  other  tradi- 
tions, a  raft  of  cypress  wood. 

The  Peruvians,  whose  civilization  was  notJ^ePen^- 
below  that  of  the  Mexicans,  also  had  a  tra-  "°"- 
dition  of  the  Deluge,  and  placed  that  event 
under  King  Viracocho,  first  of  the  Incas  of 
Cuzco.  The  traditions  of  those  American 
tribes  who  remained  in  a  savage  state  must, 
from  their  very  nature,  be  to  a  certain  extent 
open  to  doubt. 

The  following  is  the  translation  by  Max 
Miiller  of  a  Sanscrit  poem  of  the  age  im- 
mediately following  the  Vedic  period,  called 
the  Satapathabrahmana: 

"To  Manu  they  brought  in  the  morning 
water  to  wash.  As  they  bring  it  with  their 
hands  for  the  washing,  a  fish  comes  into  the 
hands  of  Manu  as  soon  as  he  had  washed 
himself. 


40  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 

"He  spoke  to  Manu  the  word:  'Keep  me,  I 
shall  preserve  thee.'  Manu  said:  'From  what 
Manu°'  wilt  thou  pTeservc  me?'  The  fish  said:  'The 
flood  will  carry  away  all  these  creatures.  I 
shall  preserve  thee  from  it.'  'How  canst 
thou  be  kept?'  said  Manu.  The  fish  replied: 
'As  long  as  we  are  small  there  is  much  destruc- 
tion for  us;  fish  swallows  fish.  First,  then, 
thou  must  keep  me  in  a  jar.  If  I  outgrow  it, 
dig  a  hole  and  keep  me  in  it.  If  I  outgrow 
this,  take  me  to  the  sea,  and  I  shall  be  saved 
from  destruction.' 

"He  soon  became  a  large  fish.  He  said  to 
Manu:  'When  I  am  full  grown,  in  the  same 
year  the  flood  will  come.  Build  a  ship,  then, 
and  worship  me;  and  when  the  flood  rises  go 
to  the  ship,  and  I  shall  preserve  thee  from  it.' 

"Manu  brought  the  fish  to  the  sea,  after  he 
had  kept  him  thus.  And  in  the  year  which  the 
fish  had  pointed  out  Manu  had  built  a  ship, 
and  worshipped  the  fish.  Then  when  the  flood 
had  risen  he  went  into  the  ship.  The  fish  came 
swimming  to  him,  and  Manu  fastened  the 
rope  of  the  ship  to  a  horn  of  the  fish.  The  fish 
carried  him  by  it  over  the  northern  moun- 
tain. The  fish  said:  'I  have  preserved  thee. 
Bind  the  ship  to  a  tree.  May  the  water  not 
cut  thee  asunder  while  thou  art  on  the  moun- 
tain. As  the  water  wilt  sink  thou  wilt  slide 
down.'  Manu  slid  down  with  the  water,  and 
this  is  called  the  Slope  of  Manu  on  the  north- 
ern mountain.     The  flood  had  carried  away 


THE    DELIiGE  41 

all  these  creatures,  and  thus  Manu  was  left 
there  alone." 

Manu  then  was  saved;  and  then  he  offered 
the  sacrifice,  to  be  "the  model  for  all  future 
generations."  By  this  sacrifice  he  obtained 
a  daughter,  named  Ida,  or  Ila,  who  became 
supernaturally  the  mother  of  humanity.  Manu 
received  the  title  of  "Father  of  mankind" 
(Manush  pitar)  ^  and  his  name  even  became 
their  generic  appellation  for  men,  who  are 
called  Manor  apatya,  "descendants  of  Manu," 
and  Manu  means  "the  intelligent  being, 
Man." 

The   Greeks   had   two   different  traditions  pe Greek 

traditions. 

as  to  the  Deluge  which  destroyed  primitive 
humanity.  With  the  first  was  connected  the 
name  of  Ogyges,  the  first  king  of  Attica, 
an  entirely  mythical  personage,  who  is  lost 
in  the  mist  of  ages;  his  name  even  is  derived 
from  the  primitive  designation  of  the  Del- 
uge (Sanscrit  augha).  It  was  reported  that 
in  his  time  all  the  country  was  covered  by 
the  Deluge,  and  that  the  waters  reached  even 
to  the  heavens,  and  that  he  escaped  in  a 
vessel  with  some  companions.  The  second 
tradition  is  the  Thessalian  story  of  Deuca- 
lion. Zeus  having  resolved  to  destroy  the 
men  of  the  age  of  bronze,  whose  crimes  had 
excited  his  wrath,  Deucalion  by  the  advice 
of  Prometheus,  his  father,  constructed  an  ark, 
in  which  he  took  refuge  with  his  wife  Pyrrha. 
The  Deluge  came;  the  ark  floated  above  the 


42  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 

waters  for  nine  days  and  nine  nights,  and  was 
at  last  left  stranded  on  Mount  Parnassus. 
Deucalion  and  Pyrrha  came  out,  offered  a 
sacrifice,  and  repeopled  the  world,  accord- 
ing to  the  orders  of  Jupiter,  by  casting  be- 
hind them  the  bones  of  the  earth,  that  is, 
stones  which  were  changed  into  men.  This 
Greek  tradition  is  worthy  of  notice,  as,  like 
that  in  the  Book  of  Genesis,  it  records  the 
moral  cause  of  the  catastrophe — the  destruc- 
tion of  wicked  men,  which  the  Indian  legend 
does  not  allude  to. 

Among  the  Celts  in  Great  Britain  there 
Ti'rsion'^'^  was  a  similar  tradition.  "The  first  misfor- 
tune," says  an  ancient  Welsh  poem,  "was  the 
overflow  of  the  Llynn-llion,  or  lake  of  waves, 
and  the  occurrence  of  a  great  inundation, 
by  which  all  men  were  destroyed,  with  the 
exception  of  Dwyfan  and  Dwyfach,  who 
saved  themselves  in  a  vessel  without  sails,  by 
them  the  island  of  Britain  was  repeopled." 
In  the  Scandinavian  Edda,  the  three  sons  of 
Borr,  Odin,  Vili,  and  Ve,  grandsons  of  Bure, 
the  first  man,  kill  Ymir,  father  of  the  ice- 
giants,  from  whose  body  they  make  the  earth. 
Blood  runs  from  his  wounds  in  such  abun- 
dance that  all  the  race  of  giants  is  de- 
stroyed, except  Begelmir,  who  saves  himself 
in  a  ship  with  his  wife,  and  repeoplcs  the 
earth. 

The  Lithuanians,  the  one  of  the  Japhetic 
races  whose  language  has  sustained  least  al- 


THE    DELUGE  43 

teration,  related,  before  their  conversion  tOTheLkh- 
Christianity,  that  the  god  Pramzimas,  seeing  oe'iJfge. 
the  earth  full  of  disorder,  sent  two  giants, 
Wandu  and  Wejas  (water  and  wind),  to  de- 
stroy it.  They  overturned  everything  in  their 
rage;  only  a  few  men  saved  themselves  on  a 
mountain.  Touched  with  compassion,  Pram- 
zimas, who  was  then  eating  some  of  the  nuts 
of  heaven,  let  fall  near  the  mountain  a  nut- 
shell, in  which  men  took  refuge,  and  which 
the  giants  dared  not  touch.  Having  thus  es- 
caped this  disaster,  mankind  afterward  dis- 
persed. Only  one  very  old  couple  remained 
in  the  country,  and  they  were  in  distress  at  not 
having  any  children.  Pramzimas  sent  a  rain- 
bow to  give  them  hope,  and  told  them  to  dance 
on  the  bones  of  the  earth,  for  the  Lithuanian 
legend  employs  here  the  same  expression  as 
that  of  Deucalion.  The  aged  couple  jumped 
nine  times,  and  the  result  was  nine  couples, 
who  became  the  ancestors  of  the  nine  Lithu- 
anian tribes. 

We  see  that  each  of  the  Japhetic  races,  who, 
starting  from  the  common  centre  of  Bactria, 
dispersed  themselves  over  the  earth  in  various 
directions,  has  added  to  the  groundwork  of 
the  original  tradition  ornaments  more  or  less 
puerile.  But  the  groundwork,  in  spite  of  all 
additions,  remains  the  same,  and  contains  all 
the  essential  features  of  the  Biblical  narrative 
— a  deluge  destroying  the  human  race  as  a 
punishment  for  its  sins,  except  one  righteous 


44  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS 

man,  chosen  by  Providence  to  escape  with  his 
family  from  this  disaster,  and  to  repeople  the 
earth. 

[According  to  Egyptian  tradition,  the  old 
E^pt^and  Empire  was  founded  by  Menes^  B.C.  3000. 
The  Shepherd  Kings  (Hyksos)  conquered 
Egypt  about  2100  and  were  finally  driven  out 
about  B.C.  1650.  Egypt  attained  her  zenith  in 
art  and  industry  under  Rameses  II.  (19th  dy- 
nasty) about  1350.  This  king  probably  was 
the  oppressor  of  the  Israelites.  During  this 
period  the  great  rival  Empire  was  that  of  As- 
syria. The  great  religious  systems  were  grad- 
ually developing:  Judaism  in  Palestine  and 
Zoroastrianism  further  East.  The  worship  of 
Apollo  and  the  pre-eminence  of  his  oracle  at 
Delphi  assume  importance  in  Greece.] 


THE   FOUNDING    OF    CHALDEA 

(B.C.  2250) 


T 


GEORGE    RAWLINSON 

HE  establishment  of  a  Cushite  kingdom 

in   Lower   Babylonia   dates   probably  kingdom"^ 


from  (at  least)  the  twenty- fourth  or 
twenty-fifth  century  before  our  era.  Greek 
traditions  assigned  to  the  city  of  Babylon  an 
antiquity  nearly  as  remote;  and  the  native  his- 
torian, Berosus,  spoke  of  a  Chaldean  dynasty 
as  bearing  rule  anterior  to  B.C.  2250.  Unfor- 
tunately the  works  of  this  great  authority  have 
been  lost;  and  even  the  general  outline  of  his 
chronological  scheme,  whereof  some  writers 
have  left  us  an  account,  is  to  a  certain  extent 
imperfect;  so  that,  in  order  to  obtain  a  definite  Difficult 
chronology  for  the  early  times,  we  are  forced  pming. 
to  have  recourse,  in  some  degree,  to  conjec- 
ture. Berosus  declared  that  six  dynasties  had 
reigned  in  Chaldea  since  the  great  flood  of 
Xisusthrus,  or  Noah.  To  the  first,  which 
consisted  of  86  kings,  he  allowed  the  extrava- 
gant period  of  34,080  years.  Evechoiis,  the 
founder  of  the  dynasty,  had  enjoyed  the  royal 
dignity  for  2,400  years,  and  Chomasbelus,  his 
son  and  successor,  had  reigned  300  years  longer 

(45) 


46  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  B.c.2250 

than  his    father.      The   other    84    monarchs 
had  filled  up  the  remaining  space  of  28,980 

From  the  .       •  •  i 

luilforiiies.  yC'^^s — their  reigns  thus  averaging  345  years 
apiece.  It  is  clear  that  these  numbers  are  un- 
historic;  and  though  it  would  be  easy  to  re- 
duce them  within  the  limits  of  credibility  by 
arbitrary  suppositions — as,  for  instance,  that 
the  years  of  the  narrative  represent  months 
or  days — yet  it  may  reasonably  be  doubted 
whether  we  should  in  this  way  be  doing  any 
service  to  the  cause  of  historic  truth.     The 

na^sties  ck-  namcs  Evechoiis  and  Chomasbelus  seem  mythic 

veloped  in  •' 

Sfst^^"'*  rather  than  real;  they  represent  personages 
in  the  Babylonian  Pantheon,  and  can  scarcely 
have  been  borne  by  men.  It  is  likely  that  the 
entire  series  of  names  partook  of  the  same 
character,  and  that,  if  we  possessed  them,  their 
bearing  would  be  found  to  be,  not  historic, 
but  mythological.  We  may  parallel  this  dy- 
nasty of  Berosus,  where  he  reckons  kings' 
reigns  by  the  cyclical  periods  of  sosses  and 
Tiers,  with  Manetho's  dynasties  of  Gods  and 
Demigods  in  Egypt,  where  the  sum  of  years 
is  nearly  as  great. 

Beginning       Chaldcan    history    may    therefore    be    re- 

of  Chaldean  .  -'  -^ 

history,  garded  as  opening  upon  us  at  a  time  anterior, 
at  any  rate,  by  a  century  or  two,  to  B.C.  2286. 
It  was  then  that  Nimrod,  the  son  or  descen- 
dant of  Cush,  set  up  a  kingdom  in  Lower 
Mesopotamia,  which  attracted  the  attention  of 
surrounding  nations.  The  people,  whom  he 
led,  came  probably  by  sea;  at  any  rate,  their 


B.C.2250       THE  FOUNDING  OF  CHALDEA  47 

earliest  settlements  were  on  the  coast;  and 
Ur  or  Hur,on  the  right  bank  of  the  Euphrates, 
at  a  very  short  distance  from  its  embouchure, 
was  the  primitive  capital.  The  "mighty 
hunter"  rapidly  spread  his  dominion  inland, 
subduing  or  expelling  the  various  tribes  by 
which  the  country  was  previously  occupied. 
His  kingdom  extended  northward,  at  least  as 
far  as  Babylon,  which  (as  well  as  Erech  or 
Huruk,  Accad,  and  Calneh)  was  first  founded 
by  this  monarch.  Further  historical  details  Nimrod, 
of  his  reign  are  wantmg;  but  the  strength  of  ^'^^g"^^*"' °^ 
his  character  and  the  greatness  of  his  achieve- ^•*^"^''^^" 
ments  are  remarkably  indicated  by  a  variety 
of  testimonies,  which  place  him  among  the 
foremost  men  of  the  Old  World,  and  guaran- 
tee him  a  never-ending  remembrance.  At 
least  as  early  as  the  time  of  Moses  his  name 
had  passed  into  a  proverb.  He  was  known 
as  "the  mighty  hunter  before  the  Lord" — an 
expression  which  had  probably  a  double  mean- 
ing, implying  at  once  skill  and  bravery  in  the 
pursuit  and  destruction  of  wild  beasts,  and 
also  a  genius  for  war  and  success  in  his  ag- 
gressions upon  men.  In  his  own  nation  he 
seems  to  have  been  deified,  and  to  have  con- 
tinued down  to  the  latest  times  one  of  the 
leading  objects  of  worship,  under  the  title  of 
Bilu-Nipru  or  Bel-Nimrod,  which  may  be 
translated  "the  god  of  the  chase,"  or  "the 
great  hunter."  One  of  his  capitals,  Calneh, 
which  was  regarded  as  his  special  city,,  ap- 


48  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  ,0.2250 

pears  afterward  to  have  been  known  by  his 
name  (probably  as  being  the  chief  seat  of  his 
worship  in  the  early  times)  ;  and  this  name  it 
still  retains,  slightly  corrupted.  In  the  mod- 
ern Niffer  we  may  recognize  the  Talmudical 
Nopher,  and  the  Assyrian  Nipur  which  is 
Nipru,  with  a  mere  metathesis  of  the  two  final 
letters.  The  fame  of  Nimrod  has  always  been 
rife  in  the  country  of  his  domination.  Arab 
writers  record  a  number  of  remarkable  tra- 
ditions, in  which  he  plays  a  conspicuous  part; 
and  there  is  little  doubt  but  that  it  is  in  honor 
of  his  apotheosis  that  the  constellation  Orion 
SnconI  bears  in  Arabian  astronomy  the  title  of  El 
TijaiiaV.Jabbar,  or  "the  giant."  Even  at  the  present 
day  his  name  lives  in  the  mouth  of  the  people 
inhabiting  Chaldea  and  the  adjacent  regions, 
whose  memory  of  ancient  heroes  is  almost  con- 
fined to  three — Nimrod,  Solomon,  and  Alex- 
ander. Wherever  a  mound  of  ashes  is  to  be 
seen  in  Babylonia  or  the  adjoining  countries, 
the  local  traditions  attach  to  it  the  name  of 
Nimrud  or  Nimrod;  and  the  most  striking 
ruins  now  existing  in  the  Mesopotamian  val- 
ley, whether  in  its  upper  or  its  lower  portion, 
are  made  in  this  way  monuments  of  his  glory. 
Thesemitic     Qf  thc  immediate  successors  of  Nimrod  we 

emigration. 

have  no  account  that  even  the  most  lenient 
criticism  can  view  as  historical.  It  appears 
that  his  conquest  was  followed  rapidly  by  a 
Semitic  emigration  from  the  country — an 
emigration  which  took  a  northerly  direction. 


B.C.  2250 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  CHALDEA  49 


The  Assyrians  withdrew  from  Babylonia, 
which  they  still  always  regarded  as  their 
parent  land,  and,  occupying  the  upper  or  non- 
alluvial  portion  of  the  Mesopotamian  plain, 
commenced  the  building  of  great  cities  in  a 
tract  upon  the  middle  Tigris.  The  Pheni- 
cians  removed  from  the  shores  of  the  Persian 
Gulf,  and,  journeying  toward  the  northwest, 
formed  settlements  upon  the  coast  of  Canaan, 
where  they  became  a  rich  and  prosperous 
people.  The  family  of  Abraham,  and  prob- 
ably other  Aramean  families,  ascended  the 
Euphrates,  withdrawing  from  a  yoke  which 
was  oppressive,  or  at  any  rate  unpleasant. 
Abundant  room  was  thus  made  for  the 
Cushite  emigrants,  who  rapidly  established 
their  preponderance  over  the  whole  of  the 
southern  region.  As  war  ceased  to  be  the 
necessary  daily  occupation  of  the  new-comers, 
civilization  and  the  arts  of  life  began  to  ap- 
pear. The  reign  of  the  "Hunter"  was  fol- 
lowed, after  no  long  time,  by  that  of  the  Nimrods 
"Builder."  A  monumental  king,  whose  nameuS"'' 
is  read  doubtfully  as  Urkham  or  Urukh,  be- 
longs almost  certainly  to  this  early  dynasty, 
and  may  be  placed  next  in  succession,  though 
at  what  interval  we  can  not  say,  to  Nimrod. 
He  is  beyond  question  the  earliest  Chaldean 
monarch  of  whom  any  remains  have  been  ob- 
tained in  the  country.  Not  only  are  his  bricks 
found  in  a  lower  position  than  any  others,  at 
the  very  foundations  of  buildings,  but  they 

3  Vol.  1 


50  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  2:50 

are  of  a  rude  and  coarse  make,  and  the  in- 
scriptions upon  them  contrast  more  remark- 
ably, in  the  simplicity  of  the  style  of  writing 
used  and  in  their  general  archaic  type,  with 
the  elaborate  and  often  complicated  symbols 
of  the  later  monarchs.  The  style  of  Urukh's 
urukh'^s'"' buildings  is  also  primitive  and  simple  in  the 
buildings,  e^freme;  his  bricks  are  of  many  sizes,  and  ill 
fitted  together;  he  belongs  to  a  time  when  even 
the  baking  of  bricks  seems  to  have  been  com- 
paratively rare,  for  sometimes  he  employs  only 
the  sun-dried  material;  and  he  is  altogether 
unacquainted  with  the  use  of  lime  mortar,  for 
which  his  substitute  is  moist  mud,  or  else  bi- 
tumen. There  can  be  little  doubt  that  he 
stands  at  the  head  of  the  present  series  of 
monumental  kings,  another  of  whom  prob- 
ably reigned  as  early  as  B.C.  2286.  As  he  was 
succeeded  by  a  son,  whose  reign  seems  to  have 
been  of  the  average  length,  we  must  place  his 
accession  at  least  as  early  as  B.C.  2326.  Pos- 
sibly it  may  have  fallen  a  century  earlier. 

It  is  as  a  builder  of  gigantic  works  that 
Urukh  is  chiefly  known  to  us.  The  basement 
platforms  of  his  temples  are  of  an  enormous 
size ;  and  though  they  can  not  seriously  be  com- 
pared with  the  Egyptian  pyramids,  yet  indi- 
cate the  employment  for  many  years  of  a  vast 
amount  of  human  labor  in  a  very  unproduc- 
tive sort  of  industry.  The  Bowariyeh  mound 
at  Warka  is  two  hundred  feet  square,  and 
about  one  hundred  feet  high.     Its  cubic  con- 


B.C.2250        THE  FOUNDING  OF  CHALDEA  51 

tents,  as  originally  built,  can  have  been  little, 
if  at  all,  under  three  million  feet;  and  above 
thirty  million  of  bricks  must  have  been  used_^    . 

J  The  gigan- 

in  its  construction.    Constructions  of  a  similar  builffnPJhls 
character,  and  not  very  different  in  their  di-'^'^" 
mensions,  are  proved  by  the  bricks  compos- 
ing them  to  have  been  raised  by  the  same 
monarch  at  Ur,  Calneh  or  Nipur,  and  La- 
rancha  or  Larsa,  which  is  perhaps  EUasar. 
It  is  evident,  from  the  size  and  number  of 
these  works,  that  their  erector  had  the  com- 
mand  of   a  vast   amount  of   "naked   human 
strength,"  and  did  not  scruple  to  employ  that 
strength  in  constructions  from  which  no  ma- 
terial benefit  was  derivable,  but  which  were 
probably  designed  chiefly  to  extend  his  own 
fame   and   perpetuate   his   glory.     We   may 
gather  from  this  that  he  was  either  an  oppres- 
sor of  his  people,  like  some  of  the  Pyramid 
Kings   in   Egypt,   or  else   a  conqueror,  who 
thus  employed  the  numerous  captives  carried 
ofif  in  his  expeditions.     Perhaps  the  latter  is  probability 
the  more  probable  supposition;  for  the  build- pLyTng'"' 
ers  of  the  great  fabrics  in  Babylonia  and  Chal-''^^"''^^* 
dea  do  not  seem  to  have  left  behind  them  any 
character  of  oppressiveness,  such  as  attaches 
commonly  to  those  monarchs  who  have  ground 
down  their  own  people  by  servile  labor. 

The  great  buildings  of  Urukh  appear  to 
have  been  all  designed  for  temples.  They 
are  carefully  placed  with  their  angles  facing 
the  cardinal  points,  and  are  dedicated  to  the 


62  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  »so 

Sun,  the  Moon,  to  Belus  (Bel-Nimrod),  or 
to  Beltis.  The  temple  at  Mugheir  was  built 
in  honor  of  the  Moon-God,  Sin  or  Hurki, 
who  was  the  tutelary  deity  of  the  city.  The 
Warka  temple  was  dedicated  to  Beltis.  At 
Calneh  or  Nipur,  Urukh  erected  two  temples, 
deXat*^  one  to  Beltis  and  one  to  Belus.  At  Larsa  or 
Mc^n-god   Ellasar  the  object  of  his  worship  was  the  Sun- 

and  Sun-        ^^        lo  o  'tt  111 

god.         God,  San  or  bansi.     He  would  thus  seem  to 
have  been  no  special  devotee  of  a  single  god, 
but  to  have  divided  out  his  favors  very  fairly 
among  the  chief  personages  of  the  Pantheon. 
We  are  further,  perhaps,  justified  in  con- 
cluding,   from   the   careful    emplacement   of 
Urukh's  temples,  that  the  science  of  astron- 
omy was  already  cultivated  in  his  reign,  and 
was  regarded  as  having  a  certain  connection 
with  religion.     We  have  seen  that  the  early 
di^'n^^''  worship  of  the  Chaldeans  was  to  a  great  ex- 
"hlpp'^re'    tent  astral — a  fact  which  naturally  made  the 
cultivate     heavenly  bodies  special  objects  of  attention. 

astronomy.  ■^ 

If  the  series  of  observations  which  Callis- 
thenes  sent  to  Aristotle,  dating  from  B.C.  2234, 
was  in  reality  a  record,  and  not  a  mere  calcu- 
lation backward  of  the  dates  at  which  certain 
celestial  phenomena  must  have  taken  place, 
astronomical  studies  must  have  been  pretty 
well  advanced  at  a  period  not  long  subse- 
quent to  Urukh. 

This  monarchy  which  we  have  had  under 
review  is  one,  no  doubt,  rather  curious  from 
its   antiquity  than   illustrious   from   its  great 


B.C.  2250  THE    FOUNDING    OF    CHALDEA  63 

names,  or  admirable  for  the  extent  of  its  do- 
minions. Less  ancient  than  the  Egyptian,  it 
claims  the  advantage  of  priority  over  every  j^p^^^^^^^ 
empire  or  kingdom  which  has  grown  up  upon  dlan^^*^^'' 
the  soil  of  Asia.  The  Aryan,  Turanian,  and  ^"^' 
even  the  Semitic  tribes,  appear  to  have  been 
in  the  nomadic  condition  when  the  Cushite 
settlers  in  Lower  Babylonia  betook  them- 
selves to  agriculture,  erected  temples,  built 
cities,  and  established  a  strong  and  settled 
government.  The  leaven  which  was  to  spread 
by  degrees  through  the  Asiatic  peoples  was 
first  deposited  on  the  shores  of  the  Persian 
Gulf  at  the  mouth  of  the  ''Great  River";  and 
hence  civilization,  science,  letters,  art,  ex- 
tended themselves  northward,  and  eastward, 
and  westward.  Assyria,  Media,  Semitic 
Babylonia,  Persia,  as  they  derived  from  Chal- 
dea  the  character  of  their  writing,  so  were 
they  indebted  to  the  same  country  for  their 
general  notions  of  government  and  adminis- 
tration, for  their  architecture,  their  decora- 
tive art,  and  still  more  for  their  science  and 
literature.  Each  people  no  doubt  modified 
in  some  measure  the  boon  received,  adding  [j,e^J,'^/^ent 
more  or  less  of  its  own  to  the  common  inheri- civmzalion. 
tance.  But  Chaldea  stands  forth  as  the  great 
parent  and  original  inventress  of  Asiatic  civ- 
ilization, without  any  rival  that  can  reason- 
ably dispute  her  claims. 

The  great  men  of  the  Empire  are  Nimrod, 
Urukh,   and   Chedorlaomer.        Nimrod,   the 


54  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  2250 

founder,  has  the  testimony  of  Scripture  that 
he   was    "a    mighty    one    in    the    earth";    "a 
mighty  hunter";  the  establisher  of  a  "king- 
Liuidcas    dom,"  when  kingdoms  had  scarcely  begun  to 
grcaimcn.  ^^  knowtt ;  the  builder  of  four  great  and  fa- 
mous cities — "Babel,  and  Erech,  and  Accad, 
and  Calneh,  in  the  land  of  Shinar,"  or  Meso- 
potamia.   To  him  belongs  the  merit  of  select- 
ing a  site  peculiarly  fitted  for  the  develop- 
ment of  a  great  power  in  the  early  ages  of  the 
world,   and   of  binding  men   together   into  a 
Nimrod  iiie  community  which   events   proved   to   possess 

founder.  -^  •  1 

withm  It  the  elements  of  prosperity  and  per- 
manence. 

Whether  Nimrod  had,  indeed,  the  rebel- 
lious and  apostate  character  w^hich  numer- 
ous traditions,  Jewish,  Arabian,  and  Arme- 
nian, assign  to  him;  whether  he  was  in  reality 
concerned  in  the  building  of  the  tower  related 
in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Gene- 
sis*, we  have  no  means  of  positively  deter- 
mining. The  language  of  Scripture  with  re- 
gard to  Nimrod  is  laudatory  rather  than  the 
contrary;  and  it  would  seem  to  have  been 
from  a  misapprehension  of  the  nexus  of  the 
Mosaic  narrative  that  the  traditions  above 
mentioned  originated.  Nimrod,  "the  mighty 
hunter  before  the  Lord,"  had  not  in  the  days 
of  Moses  that  ill  reputation  which  attached 
to  him  in  later  ages,  when  he  was  regarded  as 

*  The  Tower  of  Babel. 


B.C.  2250  THE    FOUNDING    OF    CHALDEA  55 

the  great  Titan  or  Giant,  \yho  made  war  upon 
the  gods,  and  who  was  at  once  the  builder 
of  the  tower,  and  the  persecutor  who  forced 
Abraham  to  quit  his  original  country.  It  is  at 
least  doubtful  whether  we  ought  to  allow  any 
weight  at  all  to  the  additions  and  embellish- 
ments with  which  the  later  writers,  so  much 
wiser  than  Moses,  have  overlaid  the  sim- 
plicity of  his  narrative. 

Urukh,  whose  fame  may  possibly  haveurukhthe 
reached  the  Romans,  was  the  great  Chaldean  *''''''^^''- 
architect.  To  him  belongs,  apparently,  the 
conception  of  the  Babylonian  temple,  with  its 
rectangular  base,  carefully  placed  so  as  to 
present  its  angles  to  the  four  cardinal  points, 
its  receding  stages,  its  buttresses,  its  drains, 
its  sloped  walls,  its  external  staircases  for  as- 
cent, and  its  ornamental  shrine  crowning  the 
whole.  At  any  rate,  if  he  was  not  the  first  to 
conceive  and  erect  such  structures,  he  set  the 
example  of  building  them  on  such  a  scale  and 
with  such  solidity  as  to  secure  their  long  con- 
tinuance, and  render  them  wellnigh  imper- 
ishable. 

The  great  builder  was  followed  shortly 
by  the  great  conqueror,  Kudur-Lagamer,  the 
Elamitic  prince,  who,  more  than  twenty  cen-  ^  ^ 

»  '  '  •'  ^     Kudur- 

turies  before  our  era,   having  extended   his  f{f/^'n«''> 
dominion  over  Babylonia  and  the  adjoining  "'"''"^""■• 
regions,  marched  an  army  a  distance  of  1,200 
miles  from  the  shores  of  the  Persian  Gulf  to 
the  Dead  Sea,  and  held  Palestine  and  Syria 


56  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  aaso 

in  subjection  for  twelve  years,  thus  effecting 
conquests  which  were  not  again  made  from 
the  same  quarter  till  the  time  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, fifteen  or  sixteen  hundred  years  after- 
ward, has  a  good  claim  to  be  regarded  as  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  personages  in  the 
world's  history — being,  as  he  is,  the  forerun- 
ner and  prototype  of  all  those  great  Oriental 
conquerors  who  from  time  to  time  have  built 
up  vast  empires  in  Asia  out  of  heterogeneous 
materials,  which  have  in  a  longer  or  shorter 
space  successively  crumbled  to  decay.  At  a 
time  when  the  kings  of  Egypt  had  never  ven- 
tured beyond  their  borders,  unless  it  were  for 
expa'n^o^n°  a  foray  in  Ethiopia,  and  when  in  Asia  no  mon- 
empire.  arch  had  held  dominion  over  more  than  a  few 
petty  tribes,  and  a  few  hundred  miles  of  terri- 
tory, he  conceived  the  magnificent  notion  of 
binding  into  one  the  manifold  nations  in- 
habiting the  vast  tract  which  lies  between 
the  Zagos  mountain-range  and  the  Mediter- 
ranean. Lord  by  inheritance  (as  we  may  pre- 
sume) of  Elam  and  Chaldea  or  Babylonia, 
His  he  was  not  content  with  these  ample  tracts, 

influence  .  j       i      i_     i  j  i 

upon  future  but  covctmg  morc,  proceeded  boldly  on  a 
career  of  conquest  up  the  Euphrates  valley, 
and  through  Syria  into  Palestine.  Success- 
ful here,  he  governed  for  twelve  years  do- 
minions extending  near  a  thousand  miles  from 
east  to  west,  and  from  north  to  south,  probably 
not  much  short  of  five  hundred.  It  is  true 
that  he  was  not  able  to  hold  this  large  extent 


B.C.  2250  THE    FOUNDING    OF    CHALDEA  57 

of  territory;  but  the  attempt  and  the  success 
temporarily  attending  it  are  memorable  cir- 
cumstances, and  were  probably  long  held  in 
remembrance  through  Western  Asia,  where 
they  served  as  a  stimulus  and  incentive  to  the 
ambition  of  later  monarchs. 


T 


ZOROASTER 

(ABOUT  B.C.   1000) 

JAMES   DARMESTETER 

HE  Zend-Avesta  is  the  sacred  book  of 
the  Parsis,  that  is  to  say,  of  the  few 
remaining  followers  of  that  religion 
which  reigned  over  Persia  at  the  time  when 
The         the  second  successor  of  Mohammed  overthrew 
[he?a?srs.  the  Sassanian  dynasty,*  and  which  has  been 
called  Dualism,  or  Mazdeism,  or  Magism,  or 
Zoroastrianism,  or  Fire-worship,  according  as 
its  main  tenet,  or  its  supreme  God,t  or  its 
priests,  or  its  supposed  founder,  or  its  appar- 
ent object  of  worship  has  been  most  kept  in 
view.  In  less  than  a  century  after  their  defeat, 
nearly  all  the  conquered  people  were  brought 
over  to  the  faith  of  their  new  rulers,  either  by 
the  Parsis   forcc,  or  poHcy,  or  the  attractive  power  of  a 

and  their  .  ,  <•  ,  ,  -r.  /•       i 

emigration.  Simpler  form  of  creed.  But  many  of  those 
who  clung  to  the  faith  of  their  fathers  went 
and  sought  abroad  for  a  new  home,  where 
they  might  freely  worship  their  old  gods,  say 
their  old  prayers,  and  perform  their  old  rites. 
That  home  they  found  at  last  among  the  tol- 

*  At  the  Battle  of  Nihavand,  642.  f  Ahiira   Mazda. 

(58) 


B.C.  looo  ZOROASTER  59 

erant  Hindus,  on  the  western  coast  of  India 
and  in  the  peninsula  of  Guzerat.*  They 
throve,  and  there  they  live  still,  while  the 
ranks  of  their  coreligionists  in  Persia  are 
daily  thinning  and  dwindling  away.f 

As  the  Parsis  are  the  ruins  of  a  people,  so 
are  their  sacred  books  the  ruins  of  a  religion. 
There  has  been  no  other  great  belief  in  theSordsof 

,   ,       ,  1     f  i  1  the  sacred 

world  that  ever  left  such  poor  and  meagre  writings. 
monuments  of  its  past  splendor.  Yet  great  is 
the  value  which  that  small  book,  the  Avesta, 
and  the  belief  of  that  scanty  people,  the  Par- 
sis,  have  in  the  eyes  of  the  historian  and  the- 
ologist,  as  they  present  to  us  the  last  reflex  of 
the  ideas  which  prevailed  in  Iran  during  the 
five  centuries  which  preceded  and  the  seven 
which  followed  the  birth  of  Christ,  a  period 
which  gave  to  the  world  the  Gospels,  the  Tal- 
mud, and  the  Qur'an.  Persia,  it  is  known, 
had  much  influence  on  each  of  the  movements 
which  produced,  or  preceded  from,  those 
books;  she  lent  much  to  the  first  heresiarchs, 
much  to  the  Rabbis,  much  to  Mohammed. 
By  help  of  the  Parsi  religion  and  the  Avesta,  tVe  Av°estr„ 
we  are  enabled  to  go  back  to  the  very  heart 


*  They  settled  first  at  Sangan,  not  far  from  Daman ;  thence 
they  spread  over  Surat,  Nowsari,  Broach,  and  Kambay ;  and 
within  the  last  two  centuries  they  have  settled  at  Bombay, 
which  now  contains  the  bulk  of  the  Parsi  people,  nearly  150,- 
000  souls. 

t  A  century  ago,  it  is  said,  they  still  numbered  nearly 
100,000  souls ;  but  there  now  remain  no  more  than  8,000  or 
nearly  9,000  souls,  scattered  in  the  Yizd,  and  the  surrounding 
villages. 


60  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  tooo 

of  that  most  momentous  period  in  the  history 
ia°pcri^'  of  religious  thought,  which  saw  the  blending 

of  rcliifious       ,      ,         °  •        .  •    I        ,         o  •    ■  ,      , 

ihougbt.     of  the  Aryan  mmd  with  the  bemitic,  and  thus 
opened  the  second  stage  of  Aryan  thought. 

Inquiries  into  the  religion  of  ancient  Per- 
sia began  long  ago,  and  it  was  the  old  foe  of 
Persia,  the  Greek,  who  first  studied  it.  Aris- 
totle, Hermippus,  and  many  others  wrote  of 
it  in  books  of  which  unfortunately  nothing 
more  than  a  few  fragments  or  merely  the 
titles  have  come  down  to  us.  We  find  much 
valuable  information  about  it  scattered  in  the 
accounts  of  historians  and  travellers,  extend- 
ing over  ten  centuries,  from  Herodotus  down 
^  to  Agathias   and   Procopius.     It  was   never 

Early  study  °  ^ 

rl\\%nXy  ^^^^  cagerly  studied  than  in  the  first  centuries 
chrrsuans.%f  thc  Christian  era;  but  that  study  had  no 
longer  anything  of  the  disinterested  and  al- 
most scientific  character  it  had  in  earlier 
times.  Religious  and  philosophic  sects,  in 
search  of  new  dogmas,  eagerly  received  what- 
ever came  to  them  bearing  the  name  of  Zoro- 
aster. 

Mazdeism  has  often  been  called  Zoroaster's 
religion  in  the  same  sense  as  Islam  is  called 
Mohammed's  religion,  that  is,  as  being  the 
work  of  a  man  named  Zoroaster,  a  view  which 
was  favored,  not  only  by  the  Parsi  and  Greek 
accounts,  but  by  the  strong  unity  and  sym- 
metry of  the  whole  system.  Moreover,  as  the 
moral  and  abstract  spirit  which  pervades 
Mazdeism  is  different  from  the  Vedic  spirit, 


B.c.,000  ZOROASTER  61 

and  as  the  word  deva,  which  means  a  god  in 
Sanscrit,  means  a  demon  in  the  Avesta,  it  was 
thought  that  Zoroaster's  work  had  been  a  work  ^a^jeis^ 
of  reaction  against  Indian  polytheism,  in  fact,  ihe^refrgion 
a  religious  schism.  When  he  lived  no  oneaste?."^"' 
knows,  and  every  one  agrees  that  all  that  the 
Parsis  and  the  Greeks  tell  of  him  is  mere 
legend,  through  which  no  solid  historical  facts 
can  be  arrived  at.  The  question  is  whether 
Zoroaster  was  a  man  converted  into  a  god, 
or  a  god  converted  into  a  man.  No  one  who 
reads  with  a  mind  free  from  the  yoke  of 
classical  recollections,  I  do  not  say  the  book 
of  Zoroaster  (which  may  be  charged  with 
being  a  modern  romance  of  recent  invention), 
but  the  Avesta  itself,  will  have  any  doubt  that 
Zoroaster  is  no  less  an  essential  part  of  the 
Mazdean  mythology  than  the  son  expected 
to  be  born  to  him,  at  the  end  of  time,  to  de- 
stroy Ahriman. 

Zoroaster  is  not  described  as  one  who  brings 
new  truth  and  drives  away  error,  but  as  one 
who  overthrows  the  demons;  he  is  a  smiter 
of  fiends,  like  Verethraghna,  Apam  Napat, 
Tistrya,  Vayu,  or  Keresaspa,  and  he  is 
stronger  and  more  valiant  than  Keresaspa 
himself;  the  diflference  between  him  and  them 
is  that,  whereas  they  smite  the  fiend  with  ma- 
terial weapons,  he  smites  them  chiefly  with 
a  spiritual  one,  the  word  or  prayer.  We  say 
"chiefly"  because  the  holy  word  is  not  his 
only  weapon;  he  repels  the  assaults  of  Ahri- 


62  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  looo 

man   with   stones   as   big   as   a   house   which 
conSon*  Ahura  has  given  to  him,  and  which  were  fur- . 

with  the  ,  , 

siorm-gods.  nishccl,  no  doubt,  from  the  same  quarry  as  the 
stones  which  are  cast  at  their  enemies  by  In- 
dra,  by  Agni,  by  the  Maruts,  or  by  Thor,  and 
which  are  "the  flame,  wherewith  as  a  stone," 
the  storm-god  aims  at  the  fiend.  Therefore 
his  birth,  like  the  birth  of  every  storm-god, 
is  longed  for  and  hailed  with  joy  as  the  signal 
of  its  deliverance  by  the  whole  living  crea- 
tion, because  it  is  the  end  of  the  dark  and  arid 
reign  of  the  demon:  "In  his  birth,  in  his 
growth,  did  the  floods  and  trees  rejoice;  in  his 
birth,  in  his  growth,  the  floods  and  trees  did 
grow  up;  in  his  birth,  in  his  growth,  the  floods 
and  trees  exclaimed  with  joy."  Ahura  him- 
self longs  for  him  and  fears  lest  the  hero 
about  to  be  born  may  not  stand  by  him:  "He 
ofTfered  up  a  sacrifice  to  Ardvi  Sura  Anahita, 
he,  the  Maker,  Ahura  Mazda;  he  ofifereld  up 
the  Haoma,  the  Myazda,  the  Baresma,  the 
holy  words,  he  besought  her,  saying:  Vouch- 
safe me  that  boon,  O  high,  mighty,  undefiled 
goddess,  that  I  may  bring  about  the  son  of 
Pourushaspa,  the  holy  Zarathustra,  to  think 
according  to  the  law,  to  speak  according  to 
the  law,  to  work  according  to  the  law!" 
Ardvi  Sura  Anahita  granted  that  boon  to  him 
who  was  offering  up  libations,  sacrificing  and 
beseeching. 

Zarathustra  stands  by  Ahura.     The  fiends 
come   rushing  along  from  hell  to  kill  him, 


B.C.  looo  ZOROASTER  63 

and  fly  away  terrified  by  his  hvareno:  Angra 
Mainyu  himself  is  driven  away  by  the  stones 

1  1  1  1      •  T-»  I  /■  ^^^  "^^^^  'S 

he  hurls  at  him.     But  the  great  weapon  of  zoroaster-s 

"  '^  weapon. 

Zarathustra  is  neither  the  thunder-stones  he 
hurls,  nor  the  glory  with  which  he  is  sur- 
rounded, it  is  the  Word. 

In  the  voice  of  the  thunder  the  Greeks  rec- 
ognized the  warning  of  a  god  which  the  wise 
understand,  and  they  worshipped  it  as,  Offffa 
Atd9  ayyekoq^  "thc  Word,  mcsscngcr  of  Zeus"; 
the  Romans  worshipped  it  as  a  goddess, 
Fama;  India  adores  it  as  "the  Voice  in  the 
cloud,"  Vak  Ambhrini,  which  issues  from  the 
waters,  from  the  forehead  of  the  father,  and 
hurls  the  deadly  arrow  against  the  foe  of 
Brahma.  So  the  word  from  above  is  either 
a  weapon  that  kills,  or  a  revelation  that  . 
teaches:  in  the  mouth  of  Zarathustra  it  is 
both:  now  "he  smites  down  Angra  Mainyu 
with  the  Ahuna  vairya  (Honover)  as  he 
would  do  with  stones  as  big  as  a  house,  and 
he  burns  him  up  with  the  Ashem  vohu  as 
with  melted  brass";  now  he  converses  with 

A  L  1  •  /-     1         f       t  •  Voice  of  the 

Anura,  on  the  mountam  of  the  holy  questions,  thunder. 
in  the  forest  of  the  holy  questions.  Any  storm 
god  whose  voice  descends  from  above  to  the 
earth  may  become  a  godlike  messenger,  a  law- 
giver, a  Zarathustra.  Nor  is  Zarathustra  the 
only  lawgiver,  the  only  prophet,  of  whom  the 
Avesta  knows:  Gayo  Maratan,  Yima,  the  bird 
Karsiptan,  each  of  whom,  under  different 
names,  forms,  and  functions,  are  one  and  the 


Zoroaster, 
the  law- 
giver. 


64  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  looo 

same  being  with  Zarathustra;  that  is  to  say, 
the  godlike  champion  in  the  struggle  for  light 
knew  the  law  as  well  as  Zarathustra.  But 
as  mythology,  like  language  and  life,  likes  to 
reduce  every  organ  to  one  function,  Zara- 
thustra became  the  titulary  lawgiver. 

As  he  overwhelmed  Angra  Mainyu  dur- 
ing his  lifetime  by  his  spell,  he  is  to  over- 
whelm him  at  the  end  of  time  by  the  hands 
of  a  son  yet  unborn.  "Three  times  he 
came  near  unto  his  wife  Hrogvi,  and  three 
times  the  seed  fell  upon  the  ground.  The 
Ized  Neriosengh  took  what  was  bright  and 
strong  in  it  and  intrusted  it  to  the  Ized  Ana- 
hita.  At  the  appointed  time,  it  will  be 
united  again  with  a  maternal  womb:  99,- 
.  999  Fravashis  of  the  faithful  watch  over  it, 
«>".>•«'     lest  the  fiends  destroy  it."     A  maid  bathing  in 

unborn,  -'  o 

conquer  all  thc  lakc  Kasava  will  conceive  by  it  and  bring 
forth  the  victorious  Saoshyant  (Soshyos),  who 
will  come  from  the  region  of  the  dawn  to  free 
the  world  from  death  and  decay,  from  corrup- 
tion and  rottenness,  ever  living  and  ever  thriv- 
ing, when  the  dead  shall  rise  and  immortality 
commence. 

All  the  features  in  Zarathustra  point  to  a 
god :  that  the  god  may  have  grown  up  from  a 
man,  that  pre-existent  mythic  elements  may 
have  gathered  around  the  name  of  a  man,  born 
on  earth,  and  by  and  by  surrounded  the  human 
face  with  the  aureole  of  a  god,  may  of  course 
be  maintained,  but  only  on  condition  that  one 


B.C.  looo  ZOROASTER  65 

may  distinctly  express  what  was  the  real  work 
of  Zoroaster.  That  he  raised  a  new  relig-  Son^of 
ion  against  the  Vedic  religion,  and  castn^^^'.^.n^^ 
down  into  hell  the  gods  of  older  days  can 
no  longer  be  maintained,  since  the  gods,  the 
ideas,  and  the  worship  of  Mazdeism  are 
shown  to  emanate  directly  from  the  old  re- 
ligion, and  have  nothing  more  of  a  reaction 
against  it  than  Zend  has  against  Sanscrit. 

Nowhere  in  the  Avesta  is  the  effort  of  any 
man  felt  who,  standing  against  the  belief  of 
his  people,  enforces  upon  them  a  new  creed, 
by  the  ascendency  of  his  genius,  and  turns  the 
stream  of  their  thoughts  from  the  bed  wherein 
it  had  flowed  for  centuries.  There  was  no 
religious  revolution:  there  was  only  a  long 
and  slow  movement  which  led,  by  insensible  STgrowth 
degrees,  the  vague  and  unconscious  dualism  i'sm. "  ^' 
of  the  Indo-Iranian  religion  onward  to  the 
sharply  defined  dualism  of  the  Magi. 

It  does  not  follow,  hence,  of  course,  that 
there  was  nothing  left  to  individual  genius  in 
the  formation  of  Mazdeism;  the  contrary  is 
evident  a  priori  from  the  fact  that  Mazdeism 
expresses  the  ideas  of  a  sacerdotal  caste.  It 
sprang  from  the  long  elaboration  of  successive 
generations  of  priests,  and  that  elaboration  is 
so  far  from  having  been  the  work  of  one  day 
and  of  one  man  that  the  exact  symmetry  which 
is  the  chief  characteristic  of  Mazdeism  is  still 
imperfect  in  the  Avesta  on  certain  most  impor- 
tant points.     For  instance,  the  opposition  of 


66  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  ».c.  looo 

six  arch-fiends  to  the  six  arch-gods  which  we 
find  in  Plutarch  and  in  the  Bundahis  was  still 
unknown  when  the  Xth  Fragard  of  the  Ven- 
didad  and  the  XlXth  Yast  were  composed, 
and  the  stars  were  not  yet  members  of  the  Or- 
mazdean  army  when  the  bulk  of  the  Vlllth 
Yast  was  written. 

The  reflective  spirit  that  had  given  rise  to 
Mazdeism  never  rested  but  continued  to  pro- 
duce new  systems;  and  there  is  hardly  any  re- 
ligion in  which  slow  growth  and  continual 
change  is  more  apparent.  When  the  Magi 
had  accounted  for  the  existence  of  evil  by 
the  existence  of  two  principles,  there  arose 
the  question  how  there  could  be  two  prin- 
Phiioso  hi  ciples,  and  a  longing  for  unity  was  felt,  which 
fnto'^he''^  found  its  satisfaction  in  the  assumption  that 
of  goodfnd  both  are  derived  from  one  and  the  same  prin- 
ciple. This  principle  was,  according  to  di- 
vers sects,  either  Space,  or  Infinite  Light,  or 
Boundless  Time,  or  Fate.*  Of  most  of  these 
systems  no  direct  trace  is  found  in  the  Avesta, 
yet  they  existed  already  in  the  time  of  Aris- 
totle. 

They  came  at  last  to  pure  monotheism.  Some 
forty  years  ago,  when  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wilson 
was  engaged  in  his  controversy  with  the  Par- 
sis,  some  of  his  opponents  repelled  the  charge 


*  All  these  four  principles  are  only  abstract  forins  of  Or- 
mazd  himself,  at  least  in  his  first  naturalistic  character  of 
the  Heaven  God.  Heaven  is  Infinite  Space,  it  is  Infinite 
Light,  and  by  its  movement  it  gives  rise  to  Time  and  to  Fate. 


B.C.X0OO  ZOROASTER  67 

of  dualism  by  denying  to  Ahriman  any  real 
existence  and  making  him  a  symbolical  per- 
sonification of  bad  instincts  in  man.     It  was 
not   difficult    for    the    Doctor    to    show    that  The  Parsi 
thev  were  at  variance  with  their  sacred  books,  moSe- 

-'  istic  one. 

and  critics  in  Europe  occasionally  wondered 
at  the  progress  made  by  the  Parsis  in  rational- 
ism of  the  school  of  Voltaire  and  Gibbon.  Yet 
there  was  no  European  influence  at  the  bot- 
tom; and  long  before  the  Parsis  had  heard  of 
Europe  and  Christianity,  commentators,  ex- 
plaining the  mythof  Tahmurath,  who  rode  for 
thirty  years  on  Ahriman  as  a  horse,  inter- 
preted the  feat  of  the  old  legendary  king  as 
the  curbing  of  evil  passion  and  restraining 
the  Ahriman  in  the  heart  of  man.  That 
idealistic  interpretation  was  current  as  early  as 
the  Fifteenth  Century,  and  is  prevalent  now 
with  most  of  the  Dasturs.*  To  what  extent  f^j^rpreu- 
that  alteration  may  have  been  influenced  by""" 
Islamism,  can  hardly  be  decided;  there  are 
even  some  faint  signs  that  it  began  at  a  time 
when  the  old  religion  was  still  flourishing; 
at  any  rate,  no  one  can  think  of  ascribing 
to    one    man,    or    to    one    time,    that    slow 


*  "The  Parsis  are  now  strict  monotheists,  and  whatever 
may  have  been  the  views  of  former  philosophical  writings, 
their  one  supreme  deity  is  Ahura  Mazda.  Their  views  of 
Angra  Mainyu  seem  to  differ  in  no  respect  from  what  is  sup- 
posed to  be  the  orthodox  Christian  view  of  the  devil."  Haug's 
Essays.  Mandelslo,  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,  speaks  of 
Parsiism  as  a  monotheistic  religion. 


68  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  looo 

Jsuian'°'  change  from  dualism  to  monotheism,  which 
o''lfow"°"*is,  however,  really  deeper  and  wider  than  the 
prchlsiVrrc  movemcn t  which,  in  prehistoric  times,  brought 

the  Magi  from  an  imperfect  form  of  dualism 

to  one  more  perfect. 


THE    DELPHIC    ORACLE 

WILLIAM  MITFORD 

ON  the  southern  side  of  Mount  Par- 
nassus, within  the  western  border  of 
Phocis  against  Locris,  and  at  no  great 
distance  from  the  seaport  towns  of  Crissa  and 
Cirrha,  the  mountain  crags  form  a  natural 
amphitheatre  difficult  of  access;  in  the  midst 
of  which  a  deep  cavern  discharged,  from  a  Natural 
narrow  orifice,  a  vapor  powerfully  affecting  Mo^um"" 

,,.  ,'  r  ....         .^         Parnassus. 

the  bram  of  those  who  came  withm  its  influ- 
ence. This,  we  are  told,  was  first  brought  to 
public  notice  by  a  goatherd,  whose  goats, 
browsing  on  the  brink,  were  thrown  into  sin- 
gular convulsions;  upon  which  the  man  going 
to  the  spot  and  endeavoring  to  look  into  the 
chasm,  became  himself  agitated  like  one  fran- 
tic. These  extraordinary  circumstances  were 
communicated  through  the  neighborhood ;  and 
the  superstitious  ignorance  of  the  age  imme- 
diately attributed  them  to  a  deity  residing  in 
the  place.  Frenzy  of  every  kind,  among  the 
Greeks,  even  in  more  enlightened  times,  was 
supposed  the  effect  of  divine  inspiration,  and 
the  incoherent  speeches  of  the  frantic  were  re- 
garded as  prophetical.     A  spot,  therefore,  to 

(69) 


70  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 

which  hcrdmen  only  and  their  goats  had  hith- 
erto been  accustomed  to  climb  over  the  rugged 
sides  of  the  mountain,  now  became  an  object 
of  extensive  curiosity:  it  was  said  to  be  the 
oracle  of  the  goddess  Earth:  the  rude  inhab- 

The^d-  itants,  from  all  the  neighboring  parts,  resorted 
to  it  for  information  concerning  futurity;  to 
obtain  which  any  of  them  inhaled  the  vapor, 
and  whatever  he  uttered  in  the  insuing  intoxi- 
cation, passed  for  prophecy. 

But  the  function  of  prophet,  under  these  cir- 
cumstances, was  not  a  little  dangerous;  for 
many,  through  the  superinduced  giddiness, 
fell  into  the  cavern  and  were  lost.  An  assem- 
bly of  the  neighboring  inhabitants  was  there- 
fore convened ;  in  which  it  was  determined 
that  one  person,  appointed  by  public  author- 
ity, should  alone  be  permitted  to  receive  the 
inspiration  and  render  the  responses  of  the 
divinity;  and  that  the  security  of  the  prophet 
should  be  provided  for  by  a  frame  placed  over 

^    „    .  the  chasm,  through  which  the  maddening;  va- 

The  Pythia  '  =>  o 

onew!*'"  P^''  rnight  be  inhaled  with  safety.  A  virgin 
was  preferred  for  the  sacred  office;  and  a 
frame  was  prepared,  resting  on  three  feet, 
whence  it  had  the  name  of  tripod.  The  place 
bore  the  name  of  Pytho,  of  uncertain  origin, 
but  attributed  in  aftertimes  to  some  adven- 
tures of  the  gods  there,  which  gave  it  a  mys- 
tical dignity; and  thence  the  title  of  Pythoness, 
or  Pythia,  became  attached  to  the  prophetess. 
To  obtain  the  inspiration  which,  it  was  sup- 


THE    DELPHIC    ORACLE  71 

posed,  not  only  enabled,  but  forced  her  to  re- 
veal the  will  of  the  divinity,  the  Pythoness  was 
placed  on  the  tripod.  A  sacred  estimation 
thus  became  attached  to  the  form  of  that  ma- 
chine, insomuch  that  thence,  according  to  Di- 
odorus,  arose  the  partiality  which  induced 
not  the  Greeks  only,  but  the  Romans,  to  prefer 
it  for  every  utensil,  whether  for  sacred  or  do- 
mestic purposes,  to  which  it  could  be  applied. 
The  importance  of  the  oracle  being  in- 
creased by  this  interference  of  public  author- 
ity, a  farther  establishment  became  necessary. 
A  rude  temple  was  built  over  the  cavern,  xempieand 
priests  were  appointed,  ceremonies  were  pre-Kefphi. 
scribed,  sacrifices  were  performed.  A  rev- 
enue now  was  necessary.  All  therefore  who 
would  consult  the  oracle  henceforward,  must 
come  with  offerings  in  their  hands.  The  rep- 
utation of  the  place  no  longer  then  depended 
simply  on  the  superstition  of  the  people:  the 
interest  of  the  priests  became  its  guardian. 
Hence,  according  to  popular  conjecture,  the 
change  of  divinities  supposed  to  preside  at 
Delphi.  The  profits  produced  by  the  pro-  oi^imu^ 
phetical  abilities  of  the  goddess  Earth  begin- 
ning to  fail,  it  was  asserted  that  the  god  Nep- 
tune was  associated  with  her  in  the  oracle. 
After  this  the  goddess  Themis  was  said  to  have 
succeeded  her  mother,  Earth,  in  the  inheri- 
tance. Still  new  incentives  to  public  credulity 
and  curiosity  became  necessary.  If  the  at- 
tempt to  sift  fact  from  fable  may  in  any  case 


ApolTo 


72  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 

be   indulged   to   the   historian,   the   hymn   to 
Apollo,  transmitted  to  us  as  the  composition 
of  Homer,  seems  to  offer  so  probable  an  ac- 
count of  the  next  and  final  change  in  the  prop- 
erty of  this  celebrated  place,  that  it  may  be 
permitted  to  introduce  it  here. 
Thegod         Apollo  was  a  deity  of  great  reputation  in 
the  islands  and  in  Asia  Minor,  but  hitherto  of 
little  fame  on  the  continent  of  Greece,  when  a 
vessel  from  Gnossus  in  Crete  came  to  the  port 
of  Crissa;  and,  the  crew  landing,  proceeded 
immediately    up    the    neighboring   mountain 
Parnassus  to  Delphi.     Presently  a  wonderful 
story  was  circulated,  "That  this  vessel,  being 
bound  to  Pylus  on  the  coast  of  Messenia,  had 
been  forced  by  a  preternatural  power  beyond 
that  port;  and,  while  the  astonished  crew  were 
perfectly  passive,   had   been  conducted  with 
surprising  exactness  and  expedition  to  Crissa: 
that  a  dolphin  of  uncommon  magnitude  had 
accompanied  the  vessel,  apparently  with  au- 
thority, and,  on  their  arrival  at  Crissa,  discov- 
ered himself  to  the  crew  to  be  the  great  and 
beneficent  god  Apollo;  ordering  them  at  the 
same  time  to  follow  him  to  Delphi,  where 
they  should  become  his  ministers."     The  proj- 
ect succeeded  beyond  expectation.     Sacrifices 
and   petitions   to  Themis   and   Neptune  had 
plainly  for  some  time  been  wrong:  Apollo  was 
now  the  presiding  power  of  the  place;  and 
under  this  god,  through  the  skill  of  his  new 
ministers    (for  Crete,   as  we  have  seen,  was 


THE    DELPHIC    ORACLE  73 

earlier  civilized,  and  had  probably  more  in- 
tercourse with  Egypt  than  the  rest  of  Greece), 
the  oracle  recovered  and  increased  its  reputa- ^p^„^  ^^^ 
tion.  Delphi,  which  had  the  advantage  of  be-  pSing^ 
ing  really  near  the  centre  of  Greece,  was  re-^^"^' 
ported  to  be  the  centre  of  the  world;  miracles 
were  invented  to  prove  so  important  a  circum- 
stance, and  Navel  of  the  Earth  was  among  the 
titles  which  it  acquired.  Perhaps  at  this  time 
the  Pythian  games  had  their  origin  in  the 
prize  offered  for  a  hymn  in  honor  of  Apollo, 
to  be  performed  by  the  voice  accompanied  by 
the  cithara.  The  first  victor,  Pausanias  in- 
forms us,  was  a  Cretan.  It  was  not  till  some 
ages  after  that  athletic  exercises  were  intro- 
duced, in  imitation  of  the  Olympian. 

Delphi,  however,  prospering  through  its 
oracle,  became  early  a  considerable  town.  Sit-ofoeiphi 
uate  as  it  was  among  barren  mountain-crags, 
the  rich  vale  of  Crissa  was  at  hand  for  its  sup- 
ply; the  Beotian  plain  was  not  far  distant, 
and  the  neighborhood  of  the  sea  was  a  great 
additional  convenience.  Previous  to  Homer's 
time,  if  we  may  credit  the  hymn  to  Apollo, 
the  temple  of  that  deity  was  built  of  stone, 
with  some  magnificence.  But  the  Dorian  con- 
quest seems  to  have  been  the  fortunate  circum- 
stance that  principally  spread  its  fame  and 
enlarged  its  influence ;  which  quickly  so  ex- 
tended, that  nothing  of  moment  within  Greece 
was  undertaken  by  states,  or  even  by  private 
persons  who  could  afiford  the  expense,  with- 

4  Vol.  1 


74  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 

out  first  consulting  the  oracle  of  Delphi;  par- 
ticularly in  circumstances  of  doubt,  anxiety, 
and  distress,  Delphi  was  the  refuge.  A  pres- 
ent upon  these  occasions  was  always  necessary; 
and  princes  and  opulent  persons  endeavored 
Gifts  to  the  ^^  conciliate  the  favor  of  the  deity  by  oflferings 
temple.  Qj  great  value.  Afterward  vanity  came  in  aid 
to  superstition  in  bringing  riches  to  the  tem- 
ple. The  names  of  those  who  made  consider- 
able presents  were  always  registered;  and 
when  statues,  tripods,  or  other  ornaments  of 
valuable  materials  or  elegant  workmanship 
were  given,  they  were  publicly  exhibited  in 
honor  of  the  donor. 

But  the  wealth  and  growing  estimation  of 
Delphi  had  also  another  source  of  which  in- 
formation remains  only  so  far  as  to  assure  us 
of  the  fact,  with  far  less  explanation  of  cir- 
cumstances than  for  its  importance  might  be 
desired.     In  the  general  insecurity  of  prop- 

Wealthof  .,  ,  °  ,  •,,       .^ 

Delphi,  erty  in  the  early  ages,  and  especially  in  Greece, 
it  was  highly  desirable  to  convert  all  that  could 
be  spared  from  immediate  use  into  that  which 
might  most  easily  be  removed  from  approach- 
ing danger.  By  a  compact  understood  among 
men,  with  this  view,  the  precious  metals  ap- 
pear to  have  obtained  their  early  estimation. 
Gold  then  and  silver  having  acquired  their 
certain  value  as  signs  of  wealth,  a  deposit  se- 
cure against  the  dangers  continually  threaten- 
ing, not  individuals  only,  but  every  town  and 
State  in  Greece,  would  be  the  next  object  of 


THE    DELPHIC    ORACLE  75 

the  wealthy.  Such  security  offered  nowhere 
in  equal  amount  as  in  those  temples  which  be- 
longed not  to  any  single  State,  but  were  re- 
spected by  the  common  religion  of  the  nation. 
The  priesthood,  not  likely  to  refuse  the  charge, 
would  have  a  large  interest  in  acquiring  the 
reputation  of  fidelity  to  it.  Thus  Delphi  ap- 
pears to  have  become  the  great  bank  of  Greece, 
perhaps  before  Homer,  in  whose  time  its 
riches  seem  to  have  been  already  proverbial. 
Such  then  was  found  the  value  of  this  insti- Delphi  the 

bank  of 

tution,  that  when  the  Dorian  conquest  drove  Greece 
so  large  a  part  of  the  Greek  nation  into  exile, 
the  fugitives,  who  acquired  new  settlements 
in  Asia,  established  there  their  own  national 
bank,  in  the  manner  of  that  of  their  former 
country,  recommending  it  to  the  protection  of 
the  same  divinity:  the  temple  of  Apollo  at 
Branchidae  became  the  great  depository  of  the 
wealth  of  Ionia. 

Of  the  management  of  the  prophetical  busi- 
ness of  Delphi,  some  information  remains, 
bearing  the  appearance  of  authenticity.     The 

■r.       I  ,  r  ■        Choice  of 

rythoness  was  chosen  from  among  mountam-  ^^^^^J^^' 
cottagers,  the  most  unacquainted  with  man- 
kind that  could  be  found.  It  was  always  re- 
quired that  she  should  be  a  virgin,  and  origi- 
nally she  was  taken  very  young.  The  purity 
of  virgin  innocence,  to  which  the  Greeks  at- 
tached an  idea  of  mysterious  sanctity,  made  a 
girl  most  fit,  in  vulgar  opinion,  to  receive  the 
influence  of  the  god;  and  ignorance,  which 


76  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 

evinced  purity  of  mind,  was  at  the  same  time 
very  commodious  for  the  purposes  of  the 
priests.  Once  appointed,  she  was  never  to 
quit  the  temple.  But  unfortunately  it  hap- 
pened that  one  Pythoness  made  her  escape :  her 
singular  beauty  enamored  a  young  Thessalian, 
who  succeeded  in  the  hazardous  attempt  to 
carry  her  ofif.  It  was  afterward  decreed  that 
no  Pythoness  should  be  appointed  under  fifty 
years  of  age:  but  that  in  simplicity  she  should 
still  be  the  nearest  possible  to  a  child;  and 
that  even  the  dress  appropriated  to  girls  should 
be  preserved  to  her.  The  office  of  Pythoness 
appears  not  to  have  been  desirable.     Either 

How  the  J     ^ 

obuiner^  the  emanation  from  the  cavern,  or  some  art  of 
the  managers,  threw  her  into  real  convulsions. 
Priests,  entitled  prophets,  led  her  to  the  sacred 
tripod,  force  being  often  necessary  for  the  pur- 
pose, and  held  her  on  it  till  her  frenzy  rose  to 
whatever  pitch  was,  in  their  judgment,  most 
fit  for  the  occasion.  To  secure  themselves  was 
not  difficult;  because  those  noxious  vapors, 
which  have  been  observed  in  caverns,  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  world,  are  so  much  specifi- 
cally heavier  than  the  wholesome  air,  that  they 
never  rise  above  a  certain  height.  But  Pyth- 
onesses are  said  to  have  expired  almost  im- 
mediately after  quitting  the  tripod,  and  even 
on  the  tripod.  The  broken  accents,  which  the 
wretch  uttered  in  her  agony,  were  collected 
and  arranged  by  the  prophets,  and  then  pro- 
mulgated, till  a  late  period  always  in  verse,  as 


voidance 
of  direct 
answers. 


THE    DELPHIC    ORACLE  77 

the  answer  of  the  god.  There  were,  however, 
a  few  days  only  in  the  year  on  which  the  god 
might  be  interrogated;  and  those  variable 
within  the  power  of  the  priests.  Previous  sac- 
rifices were,  moreover,  necessary,  and  if  the 
victims  were  not  favorable  the  Pythoness 
would  in  vain  solicit  inspiration.  Thus  the 
priests  had  it  always  in  their  power  to  deny  ^ 
answers,  to  delay  answers,  or  to  give  answers 
direct,  dubious,  or  unintelligible,  as  they 
judged  most  advantageous  for  the  credit  of  the 
oracle.  With  frequent  opportunities,  there- 
fore, of  arrogating  the  merit  of  true  prophecy, 
the  oracle  generally  avoided  the  risk  of  being 
convicted  of  false;  though  such  misfortune 
happened  to  many  oracles  less  ably  conducted, 
to  the  no  small  advantage  of  Delphi;  vv^hich 
thence  acquired  the  reputation,  delivered  to 
us  in  words  not  advantageous  to  the  general 
character  of  those  fixed  seats  of  prophecy,  of 
being  the  least  fallacious  of  all  oracles.  But 
if  princes  or  great  men  applied  in  a  proper 
manner  for  the  sanction  of  the  god  to  any 
undertaking,  they  seldom  failed  to  receive  it 
in  direct  terms,  provided  the  reputation  of  the 
oracle  for  truth  was  not  liable  to  immediate 
danger  from  the  event. 

[The  great  trading  community  of  the  Phe- 
nician  cities,  headed  by  Tyre  and  Sidon,  at- 
tained its  greatest  power  about  B.C.  1300.  It 
had  a  great  caravan  trade  with  Eabylonia, 


78  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 

Arabia,  Assyria,  Armenia,  etc.,  and  its  mar- 
iners traded  along  the  whole  coast  of  south- 
Riseofthc  ^^'^  ^^^  western  Europe  as  far  as  the  shores 
Phcnician'  ^f  ^^^  Baltic.  It  pUntcd  colonies  in  Cicilia, 
Rhodes,  Crete,  Cythera,  Malta,  Cyprus,  Sic- 
ily, Sardinia,  Marseilles,  the  Balearic  Isl- 
ands, Southern  Spain  and  Northern  Africa. 
The  most  important  of  these  was  Carthage.] 


THE    FOUNDING    OF    CARTHAGE 

(B.C.  872) 

FRANCOIS    LENORMANT 

ETHBAAL*  died  in  B.C.  894  and  left  the 
crown  to  his  son,  Baaleazar  11. ,  who 
reigned  only  six  years,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son,  Mathan,  whose  reign  be- 
gan in  888  and  ended  in  B.C.  879.  Under  this 
prince,  in  the  winter  of  884-883,  the  Assyr- 
ians, who  were  beginning  frequently  to  di- 
rect their  attacks  toward  Syria,  and  were  at 
the  time  engaged  in  wars  with  the  kings  of|"s.|"ack 
Damascus,  as  well  as  with  the  Hittites  on  the 
borders  of  the  Orontes,  again  made  their  ap- 
pearance on  the  frontiers  of  Phenicia.  This 
attack  terminated  like  the  one  made  in  the 
time  of  Ethbaal.  Shalmaneser  V.  says  in  an 
inscription  on  the  Nimrud  obelisk,  "In  my 
twenty-first  campaign  I  crossed  the  Euphrates 
for  the  twenty-first  time.  I  marched  toward 
the  towns  of  Hazael  of  Damascus.  I  received 
tributes  from  Tyre,  Sidon  and  Gebal." 

Under  the  reign  of  Mathan,  or  during  the 
first  years  of  that  of  his  successor,  the  Phe- 

*  King  of  Tyre. 

(79) 


80  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  872 

nicians  lost  their  settlements  of  Melos  and 
Thera,  and  also  their  towns  of  Camirus  and 
lalysus,  in  the  island  of  Rhodes.  This  date 
Loss  oi  the  is  the  necessary  consequence  of  the  one  we 
pos^sSns.  have  admitted  for  the  taking  of  Troy.  We 
know,  as  a  positive  fact,  that  the  last  posses- 
sions of  the  Phenicians  in  the  Sporades  were 
taken  from  them  by  the  Dorians,  about  sixty 
years  after  they  made  their  appearance  in  the 
Peloponnesus;  and  the  great  event  known  in 
Grecian  history  under  the  name  of  the  Return 
of  the  Heraclidae  took  place  eighty  years  after 
the  fall  of  the  city  of  Priam.  We  have  no  de- 
tails of  the  conquest  of  Melos  and  Thera;  but 
the  historians  of  the  island  of  Rhodes  record 
that  at  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  the  Dorians, 
lalysus  and  Camirus  were  governed  by  a 
prince  named  Phalia,  and  did  not  surrender 
till  after  a  protracted  siege. 

The  commencement  of  the  reign  of  the 
fourth  prince  of  the  dynasty  founded  by  Eth- 
baal  was  marked  by  the  great  political  revo- 
lution at  Tyre  that  led  to  the  foundation  of 
the  great  African  city  which  was  destined  to 
Mathan.  bccomc  thc  rival  of  Rome.  Mathan  died 
leaving  two  children,  a  son,  aged  eleven  years, 
named  Piimeliun,  celebrated  in  poetical  tra- 
dition under  the  name  of  Pygmalion,  and  a 
daughter,  some  years  older,  named  Elissar, 
the  Elissa  of  classical  authors;  his  last  wish 
was  that  the  two  should  reign  conjointly.  But 
the  populace,  desirous  of  changing  the  purely 


B.C.872  THE    FOUNDING    OF    CARTHAGE  81 

aristocratic  form  of  government,  revolted, 
proclaimed  Piimeliun  sole  monarch,  and  sur- 
rounded him  by  councillors  of  the  democratic 
party.  Elissar,  excluded  from  the  throne,  Marriage 
married  Zicharbaal,  the  Sicheus  of  Virgil,  ° 
the  Acerbas  or  Acerbal  of  other  traditions, 
high-priest  of  Melkarth,  a  personage  ranking 
next  after  the  king,  whose  position  placed  him 
at  the  head  of  the  aristocratic  party. 

Some  years  later  Piimeliun,  brought  up  in 
the  interests  of  the  popular  party,  caused 
Zicharbaal,  in  whom  he  saw  a  rival,  to  be 
assassinated.  Elissar,  burning  to  revenge  her 
husband,  headed  a  conspiracy,  with  the  ob- 
ject of  dethroning  her  brother  and  re-estab- 
lishing the  ancient  power  of  the  aristocracy. 
The  three  hundred  members  of  the  Senate, 
the  heads  of  the  patrician  families,  conspired 
with  her;  but  the  democracy  was  so  vigilant 
as  to  leave  the  conspirators  no  hope  of  success 
in  Tyre  itself.  They  then  resolved  to  expa-con- 
triate  themselves  rather  than  remain  submis-^^Va- 

tion. 

sive  to  Piimeliun  and  the  popular  party. 
Seizing  by  surprise  some  ships  in  the  port 
ready  for  sea,  they  embarked  to  the  number 
of  several  thousand,  and  departed  to  found  a 
new  Tyre  beneath  other  skies,  under  the  guid- 
ance of  Elissar,  who  from  this  emigration  re- 
ceived the  surname  of  Dido,  "the  fugitive." 
This  occurred  in  872,  the  seventh  year  of  the 
reign  of  Piimeliun.  The  Tyrian  emigrants 
directed  their  course  toward  Africa,  where 


82  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  ,.c.  87a 

the  settlements  of  their  countrymen  had  been 
constantly  increasing  in  number,  and  where 
they  were  sure  of  finding  friends  ready  to 
welcome  them.  They  disembarked  in  Zeugi- 
tania,  on  the  site  where,  six  centuries  before, 
the  Sidonians  had  founded  Cambe,  a  city 
now  fallen  into  ruin,  and,  perhaps,  entirely 
abandoned,  in  consequence  of  the  increase 
and  prosperity  of  Utica,  in  its  immediate  vi- 
cinity. 

The  Lyby-Phenicians,  inhabitants  of  the 
country,  were  then  tributary  to  Japon,  a  king 
of  the  native  Libyans.  Elissar  bought  of  him 
a  territory  for  her  colony  of  fugitives,  and 
built  there  a  town  named  Kiryath-Hadeschath 
(doubtless  pronounced  by  the  Phenicians 
Kereth-Hadesheth,  "the  new  town").  This 
name  the  Greeks  transformed  into  Carche- 
don,  and  the  Romans  into  Carthago.  Elissar, 
so  celebrated  under  the  name  of  Dido,  be- 
came later,  in  poetic  and  popular  legends, 
almost  a  mythical  personage;  and  the  true 
history  of  the  foundation  of  Carthage  was 
surrounded  and  almost  completely  obscured 
by  fabulous  accessories.  But  the  story,  as  we 
have  related  it,  seems  really  historical,  and  is 
recorded  by  the  elder  Cato,  by  Trogus  Pom- 
peius,  and  by  Saint  Augustine,  who  derived 
his  information  from  the  national  annals  of 
Carthage. 


Elissar 
founds  a 
new  city. 


B.C.872  THE    FOUNDING    OF    CARTHAGE  83 

[The  date  of  the  Trojan  war  is  placed  at 
about  B.C.  1 200.  The  next  four  hundred  years 
are  occupied  in  Greek  history  by  the  Thes- ^j^^^^,^^ 
salian  and  Dorian  migrations.  About  i  loo,  mi^at^'ifs" 
under  the  leadership  of  the  Heraclidae,  the 
Peloponnesus  was  conquered  by  the  Dorians 
and  i^tolians,  the  old  inhabitants,  the  Ache- 
ans,  being  expelled  or  subjugated.  From 
B.C.  1000  to  900,  Eolian,  Ionian,  and  Dorian 
colonists  spread  Greek  influence  throughout 
the  Levant.  Athens  and  Sparta  rose  into  rival 
power.  Lycurgus  gave  a  constitution  and 
laws  to  Sparta  about  820.  In  776  is  recorded 
for  the  first  time  the  name  of  the  victor  in  the 
Olympian  games.  This  date  is  therefore  Jhej^»«t 
called  the  First  Olympiad.  Twenty-three 
years  later  we  also  reach  the  date  at  which 
Rome  is  supposed  to  have  been  founded, 
which  event  is,  therefore,  the  basis  of 
Roman  chronolgy.] 


LAWS    OF    LYCURGUS 

(B.C.  820) 


A 


PLUTARCH 

MONG  the  many  new  institutions  of 
Lycurgus,  the  first  and  most  important 
was  that  of  a  Senate;  which  sharing, 
as  Plato  says,  in  the  power  of  the  kings,  too 
Thesenate.  imperious  and  unrestrained  before,  and  hav- 
ing equal  authority  with  them,  was  the  means 
of  keeping  them  within  the  bounds  of  modera- 
tion, and  highly  contributed  to  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  State.  For  before  it  had  been  veer- 
ing and  unsettled,  sometimes  inclining  to  arbi- 
trary power,  and  sometimes  toward  a  pure 
democracy;  but  this  establishment  of  a  Senate, 
an  intermediate  body,  like  ballast,  kept  it  in 
a  just  equilibrium,  and  put  it  in  a  safe  posture : 
the  twenty-eight  senators  adhering  to  the 
kings,  whenever  they  saw  the  people  too  en- 
croaching, and,  on  the  other  hand,  supporting 
the  people,  when  the  kings  attempted  to  make 
themselves  absolute. 

A  second  and  bolder  political  enterprise  of 
Lycurgus  was  a  new  division  of  the  lands. 
For  he  found  a  prodigious  inequality,  the  city 
(84) 


B.C.820  LAWS    OF    LYCURGUS  85 

overcharged  with  many  indigent  persons,  who 
had  no  land,  and  the  wealth  centred  in  the 
hands  of  a  few.  Determined,  therefore,  to 
root  out  the  evils  of  insolence,  envy,  avarice, 
and  luxury,  and  those  distempers  of  a  state  still 
more  inveterate  and  fatal,  I  mean  poverty  and  ^jj^j|'°"  °' 
riches,  he  persuaded  them  to  cancel  all  former 
divisions  of  land,  and  to  make  new  ones,  in 
such  a  manner  that  they  might  be  perfectly 
equal  in  their  possessions  and  way  of  living. 
His  proposal  was  put  in  practice.  He  made 
nine  thousand  lots  for  the  territory  of  Sparta, 
which  he  distributed  among  so  many  citizens, 
and  thirty  thousand  for  the  inhabitants  of  the 
rest  of  Laconia. 
After  this  he  attempted  to  divide  also  the  Division  of 

*  movables. 

movables,  in  order  to  take  away  all  appear- 
ance of  inequality;  but  he  soon  perceived  that 
they  could  not  bear  to  have  their  goods  di- 
rectly taken  from  them,  and  therefore  took  an- 
other method,  counterworking  their  avarice 
by  a  stratagem.  First  he  stopped  the  currency 
of  the  gold  and  silver  coin,  and  ordered  that 
they  should  make  use  of  iron  money  only: 
then  to  a  great  quantity  and  weight  of  this  he 
assigned  but  a  small  value;  so  that  to  lay  up 
ten  minae,  a  whole  room  was  required,  and  to 
remove  it,  nothing  less  than  a  yoke  of  oxen. 
When  this  became  current,  many  kinds  of  in- 
justice ceased  in  Lacedemon.  Who  would 
steal  or  take  a  bribe,  who  would  defraud  or 
rob,  when  he  could  not  conceal   the  booty; 


86  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  ..c.  82.; 

when  he  could  neither  be  dignified  by  the 
possession  of  it,  nor  if  it  were  cut  in  pieces 
be  served  by  its  use?  When  it  was  hot,  they 
quenched  it  in  vinegar,  to  make  it  brittle  and 
unmalleable,  and  consequently  unfit  for  any 
other  service.  In  the  next  place,  he  excluded 
unprofitable  and  superfluous  arts:  indeed,  if 
he  had  not  done  this,  most  of  them  would  have 
fallen  of  themselves,  when  the  new  money 
took  place,  as  the  manufactures  could  not  be 
iron         disposed  of.     Their  iron  coin  would  not  pass 

noncy 

in  the  rest  of  Greece,  but  was  ridiculed  and 
despised;  so  that  the  Spartans  had  no  means 
of  purchasing  any  foreign  or  curious  wares; 
nor  did  any  merchant-ship  unlade  in  their  har- 
bors. There  were  not  even  to  be  found  in 
all  their  country  either  sophists,  wandering 
fortune-tellers,  keepers  of  infamous  houses,  or 
dealers  in  gold  and  silver  trinkets,  because 
di^om.  there  was  no  money.  Thus  luxury,  losing  by 
degrees  the  means  that  cherished  and  support- 
ed it,  died  away  of  itself:  even  they  who  had 
great  possessions  had  no  advantage  from  them, 
since  they  could  not  be  displayed  in  public,  but 
must  lie  useless,  in  unregarded  repositories. 
Hence  it  was,  that  excellent  workmanship  was 
shown  in  their  useful  and  necessary  furniture, 
as  beds,  chairs,  and  tables.  Of  these  improve- 
ments the  lawgiver  was  the  cause;  for  the 
workmen,  having  no  more  employment  in  mat- 
ters of  mere  curiosity,  showed  the  excellence 
of  their  art  in  necessary  things. 


B.C.  820 


LAWS    OF    LYCURGUS  87 


Desirous  to  complete  the  conquest  of  luxury, 
and  exterminate  the  love  of  riches,  he  intro- 

'  .  Use  of  pub- 

duced  a  third  institution,  which  was  wisely ''^tables. 
enough  and  ingeniously  contrived.  This  was 
the  use  of  public  tables,  where  all  were  to  eat 
in  common  of  the  same  meat,  and  such  kinds 
of  it  as  were  appointed  by  law.  At  the  same 
time  they  were  forbidden  to  eat  at  home,  or 
on  expensive  couches  and  tables,  to  call  in  the 
assistance  of  butchers  and  cooks,  or  to  fatten 
like  voracious  animals  in  private.  For  so  not 
only  their  manners  would  be  corrupted,  but 
their  bodies  disordered ;  abandoned  to  all  man- 
ner of  sensuality  and  dissoluteness,  they  would 
require  long  sleep,  warm  baths,  and  the  same 
indulgence  as  in  perpetual  sickness. 

The  public  repasts  were  called  by  the  Cre- 
tans Andria;  but  the  Lacedemonians  styled 
them  Phiditia.  There  were  fifteen  persons  "ppued. 
to  a  table,  or  a  few  more  or  less.  Each  of  them 
was  obliged  to  bring  in  monthly  a  bushel  of 
meal,  eight  gallons  of  wine,  five  pounds  of 
cheese,  two  pounds  and  a  half  of  figs,  and  a 
little  money  to  buy  flesh  and  fish.  If  any  of 
them  happened  to  offer  a  sacrifice  of  first 
fruits,  or  to  kill  venison,  he  sent  a  part  of  it 
to  the  public  table:  for,  after  a  sacrifice  or 
hunting,  he  was  at  liberty  to  sup  at  home:  but 
the  rest  were  to  appear  at  the  usual  place. 
Children  also  were  introduced  at  these  public 
tables,  as  so  many  schools  of  sobriety.  There 
they  heard  discourses  concerning  government, 


88  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  B.c.820 

and  were  instructed  in  the  most  liberal  breed- 
ing. There  they  were  allowed  to  jest  without 
scurrility,  and  were  not  to  take  it  ill  when  the 

Manners  at  J  ' 

tabic.  raillery  was  returned.  For  it  was  reckoned 
worthy  of  a  Lacedemonian  to  bear  a  jest:  but 
if  any  one's  patience  failed,  he  had  only  to  de- 
sire them  to  be  quiet,  and  they  left  off  imme- 
diately. When  they  first  entered,  the  oldest 
man  present  pointed  to  the  door,  and  said, 
"Not  a  word  spoken  in  this  company  goes  out 
there."  The  admitting  of  any  man  to  a  par- 
ticular table  was  under  the  following  regula- 
tion. Each  member  of  that  small  society 
took  a  little  ball  of  soft  bread  in  his  hand. 

Admission     rr-i    •       1  1  •    1  •  1 

members  ^  ^^^  "^  ^^^  ^^  orop,  without  saymg  a  word, 
into  a  vessel  called  caddos,  which  the  waiter 
carried  upon  his  head.  In  case  he  approved 
of  the  candidate,  he  did  it  without  altering  the 
figure,  if  not,  he  first  pressed  it  flat  in  his 
hand;  for  a  flatted  ball  was  considered  as  a 
negative.  And  if  but  one  such  was  found,  the 
person  was  not  admitted,  as  they  thought  it 
proper  that  the  whole  company  should  be  sat- 
isfied with  one  another.  The  dish  that  was  in 
the  highest  esteem  among  them  was  the  black 
broth.  The  old  men  were  so  fond  of  it  that 
they  ranged  themselves  on  one  side  and  ate  it, 
leaving  the  meat  to  the  young  people.  After 
they  had  drunk  moderately,  they  went  home 
without  lights.  Indeed,  they  were  forbidden 
to  walk  with  a  light  either  on  this  or  any  other 
occasion,  that  they  might  accustom  themselves 


B.C.  820 


LAWS    OF    LYCURGUS  89 


to  march  in  the  darkest  night  boldly  and  reso- 
lutely. Such  was  the  order  of  their  public 
repasts. 

Another  ordinance  levelled  against  magnifi- 
cence and  expense,  directed  that  the  ceilings 
of  houses  should  be  wrought  with  no  tool  but  ^/f^"^"^^ 
the  axe,  and  the  doors  with  nothing  but  the  ^"P''"'*' 
saw.  For,  as  Epaminondas  is  reported  to  have 
said  afterward  of  his  table,  "Treason  lurks 
not  under  such  a  dinner,"  so  Lycurgus  per- 
ceived before  him  that  such  a  house  admits  of 
no  luxury  and  needless  splendor.  Indeed,  no 
man  could  be  so  absurd  as  to  bring  into  a 
dwelling  so  homely  and  simple,  bedsteads  with 
silver  feet,  purple  coverlets,  golden  cups,  and 
a  train  of  expense  that  follows  these:  but  all 
would  necessarily  have  the  bed  suitable  to  the 
room,  the  coverlet  of  the  bed  and  the  rest  of 
their  utensils  and  furniture  to  that. 

A  third  ordinance  of  Lycurgus  was,  that 
they  should  not  often  make  war  against  the^^'°^*''' 
same  enemy,  lest,  by  being  frequently  put  upon 
defending  themselves,  they  too  should  become 
able  warriors  in  their  turn.  And  this  they 
most  blamed  King  Agesilaus  for  afterward, 
that  by  frequent  and  continued  incursions  into 
Beotia,  he  taught  the  Thebans  to  make  head 
against  the  Lacedemonians. 
'  As  for  the  education  of  youth,  which  he 
looked  upon  as  the  greatest  and  most  glorious 
work  of  a  lawgiver,  he  began  with  it  at  the 
very  source,   taking  into  consideration  their 


90  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  82* 

conception  and  birth,  by  regulating  the  mar- 
riages.    For  he  did  not  (as  Aristotle  says)  de- 
„,     ,     sist  from  his  attempt  to  bring  the  women  un- 

Education  •  ° 

oi  youth,  ^jgj.  sober  rules.  They  had,  indeed,  assumed 
great  liberty  and  power  on  account  of  the  fre- 
quent expeditions  of  their  husbands,  during 
which  they  were  left  sole  mistresses  at  home, 
and  so  gained  an  undue  deference  and  im- 
proper titles;  but  notwithstanding  this  he  took 
all  possible  care  of  them.  He  ordered  the 
virgins  to  exercise  themselves  in  running, 
wrestling,  and  throwing  quoits  and  darts;  that, 
their  bodies  being  strong  and  vigorous,  the 
children  afterward  produced  from  them  might 
be  the  same;  and  that,  thus  fortified  by  exer- 
cise, they  might  the  better  support  the  pangs 

Training  of  of  child'birth,  and  be  delivered  with  safety. 

women  j^  order  to  take  away  the  excessive  tenderness 
and  delicacy  of  the  sex,  the  consequence  of  a 
recluse  life,  he  accustomed  the  virgins  occa- 
sionally to  be  seen  naked  as  well  as  the  young 
men,  and  to  dance  and  sing  in  their  presence 
on  certain  festivals.  There  they  sometimes 
indulged  in  a  little  raillery  upon  those  that 
had  misbehaved  themselves,  and  sometimes 
they  sung  encomiums  on  such  as  deserved 
them,  thus  exciting  in  the  young  men  a  useful 
emulation  and  love  of  glory.  For  he  who  was 
praised  for  his  bravery  and  celebrated  among 
the  virgins,  went  away  perfectly  happy:  while 
their  satirical  glances  thrown  out  in  sport, 
were  no  less  cutting  than  serious  admonitions; 


B.C.820  LAWS    OF    LYCURGUS  ^  91 

especially  as  the  Kings  and  Senate  went  with 
the  other  citizens  to  see  all  that  passed. 

It  was  not  left  to  the  father  to  rear  what^,.     .. 

Disposition 

children  he  pleased,  but  he  was  obliged  to  °^  ^^'"^'■^" 
carry  the  child  to  a  place  called  Lesche,  to 
be  examined  by  the  most  ancient  men  of  the 
tribe,  who  were  assembled  there.  If  it  was 
strong  and  well  proportioned,  they  gave  or-, 
ders  for  its  education,  and  assigned  it  one  of 
nine  thousand  shares  of  land;  but  if  it  was 
weakly  and  deformed,  they  ordered  it  to  be 
thrown  into  the  place  called  Apothetae,  which 
is  a  deep  cavern  near  the  mountain  Taygetus; 
concluding  that  its  life  could  be  no  advantage 
either  to  itself  or  to  the  public,  since  nature 
had  not  given  it  at  first  any  strength  or  good- 
ness of  constitution.  The  Spartan  children 
were  not  under  tutors  purchased  or  hired  with 
money,  nor  were  the  parents  at  liberty  to  edu- 
cate them  as  they  pleased :  but  as  soon  as  they 
were  seven  years  old,  Lycurgus  ordered  them  "■a°ining. 
to  be  enrolled  in  companies,  where  they  were 
all  kept  under  the  same  order  and  discipline, 
and  had  their  exercises  and  recreations  in  com- 
mon. He  who  showed  the  most  conduct  and 
courage  among  them,  was  made  captain  of  the 
company.  The  rest  kept  their  eyes  upon  him, 
obeyed  his  orders,  and  bore  with  patience  the 
punishment  he  inflicted:  so  that  their  whole 
education  was  an  exercise  of  obedience.  The 
old  men  were  present  at  their  diversions,  and 
often  suggested  some  occasion  of  dispute  or 


92 


THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  Sao 


Exercises 
of  youth. 


Valor  of 
Lycur^s. 


quarrel,  that  they  might  observe  with  exact- 
ness the  spirit  of  each,  and  their  firmness  in 
battle. 

At  this  age,  the  most  distinguished  among 
them  became  the  favorite  companions  of  the 
elders;  and  the  old  men  attended  more  con- 
stantly their  places  of  exercise,  observing  their 
trials  of  strength  and  wit,  not  slightly  and  in 
a  cursory  manner,  but  as  their  fathers,  guar- 
dians, and  governors:  so  that  there  was  neither 
time  nor  place  where  persons  were  wanting 
to  instruct  and  chastise  them.  One  of  the  best 
and  ablest  men  of  the  city  was,  moreover,  ap- 
pointed inspector  of  the  youth:  and  he  gave 
the  command  of  each  company  to  the  discreet- 
est  and  most  spirited  of  those  called  Irens.  An 
Iren  was  one  that  had  been  two  years  out  of 
the  class  of  boys:  a  Melliren  one  of  the  oldest 
lads. 

Lycurgus  himself  was  a  man  of  great  per- 
sonal valor,  and  an  experienced  commander. 
Philostephanus  also  ascribes  to  him  the  first 
division  of  cavalry  into  troops  of  fifty,  who 
were  drawn  up  in  a  square  body.  But  De- 
metrius the  Phalcrean  says,  that  he  never  had 
any  military  employment,  and  that  there  was 
the  profoundest  peace  imaginable  when  he 
established  the  constitution  of  Sparta.  His 
providing  for  a  cessation  of  arms  during  the 
Olympic  games  is  likewise  a  mark  of  the  hu- 
mane and  peaceable  man. 

The  discipline  of  the  Lacedemonians  con- 


B.C.820  LAWS    OP    LYCURGUS  93 

tinued  after  they  were  arrived  at  years  of  ma- 
turity. For  no  man  was  at  liberty  to  live  as 
he  pleased ;  the  city  being  like  one  great  camp, 
where  all  had  their  stated  allowance,  and  knew 
their  public  charge,  each  man  concluding  that 
he  was  born,  not  for  himself,  but  for  his  coun- 
try. Hence,  if  they  had  no  particular  orders,  oaiiy 
they  employed  themselves  in  inspecting  the 
boys,  and  teaching  them  something  useful,  or 
in  learning  of  those  that  were  older  than  them- 
selves. One  of  the  greatest  privileges  that 
Lycurgus  procured  for  his  countrymen  was 
the  enjoyment  of  leisure,  the  consequence  of 
his  forbidding  them  to  exercise  any  mechanic 
trade.  It  was  not  worth  their  while  to  take 
great  pains  to  raise  a  fortune,  since  riches 
were  there  of  no  account:  and  the  Helotes, 
who  tilled  the  ground,  were  answerable  for 
the  produce  above-mentioned. 

Lawsuits  were  banished  from  Lacedemon 
with  money.  The  Spartans  knew  neither 
riches  nor  poverty,  but  possessed  an  equal  com- 
petency, and  had  a  cheap  and  easy  way  of 
supplying  their  few  wants.  Hence,  when 
they  were  not  engaged  in  war,  their  time  was 
taken  up  with  dancing,  feasting,  hunting,  or 
meeting  to  exercise,  or  converse.  They  went 
not  to  market  under  thirty  years  of  age,  all 
their  necessary  concerns  being  managed  by 
their  relations  and  adopters.  Nor  was  it 
reckoned  a  credit  to  the  old  to  be  seen  saun- 
tering in  the  market-place;   it  was  deemed 


Subjects  of 
discourse. 


W  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  ,.c,  820 

more  suitable  for  them  to  pass  great  part  of 
the  day  in  the  schools  of  exercise,  or  places  of 
conversation.  Their  discourse  seldom  turned 
upon  money,  or  business,  or  trade,  but  upon 
the  praise  of  the  excellent,  or  the  contempt  of 
the  worthless;  and  the  last  was  expressed  with 
that  pleasantry  and  humor  which  conveyed  in- 
struction and  correction  without  seeming  to 
intend  it.  Nor  was  Lycurgus  himself  im- 
moderately severe  in  his  manner;  but,  as  So- 
sibius  tells  us,  he  dedicated  a  little  statue  to  the 
god  of  laughter  in  each  hall.  He  considered 
facetiousness  as  a  seasoning  of  the  hard  exer- 
cise and  diet,  and  therefore  ordered  it  to  take 
place  on  all  proper  occasions,  in  their  com- 
mon entertainments  and  parties  of  pleasure. 

Upon  the  whole,  he  taught  his  citizens  to 
think  nothing  more  disagreeable  than  to  live 
by  (or  for)  themselves.  Like  bees,  they  acted 
with  one  impulse  for  the  public  good,  and  al- 
ways assembled  about  their  prince.  They 
were  possessed  with  a  thirst  of  honor  and  en- 
thusiasm bordering  upon  insanity,  and  had 
not  a  wish  but  for  their  country. 

Lycurgus  likewise  made  good  regulations 
with  respect  to  burials.  In  the  first  place,  to 
take  away  all  superstition,  he  ordered  the  dead 
to  be  buried  in  the  city,  and  even  permitted 
their  monuments  to  be  erected  near  the  tem- 
ples; accustoming  the  youth  to  such  sights 
from  their  infancy,  that  they  might  have  no 
uneasiness   from   them,   nor   any  horror   for 


B.C.820  LAWS    OF    LYCURGUS  95 

death,  as  if  people  were  polluted  with  the 
touch  of  a  dead  body,  or  with  treading  upon 
a  grave.  In  the  next  place,  he  suffered  noth-  g^^^,^ 
ing  to  be  buried  with  the  corpse,  except  the'*"^^ 
red  cloth  and  the  olive  leaves  in  which  it  was 
wrapped.  Nor  would  he  suffer  the  relations 
to  inscribe  any  names  upon  the  tombs,  except 
of  those  men  that  fell  in  battle,  or  those  women 
who  died  in  some  sacred  office.  He  fixed 
eleven  days  for  the  time  of  mourning:  on  the 
twelfth  day  they  were  to  put  an  end  to  it,  after 
offering  sacrifice  to  Ceres. 

For  the  same  reason  he  would  not  permit 
all  that  desired  it  to  go  abroad  and  see  other 
countries,  lest  they  should  contract  foreign 
manners,  gain  traces  of  a  life  of  little  disci- 
pline, and  of  a  different  form  of  government. 
He  forbid  strangers  too  to  resort  to  Sparta 
who  could  not  assign  a  good  reason  for  their 
coming;  not,  as  Thucydides  says,  out  of  fear 
they  should  imitate  the  constitution  of  thatpisijkeof 

-^  foreign 

city,  and  make  improvements  in  virtue,  but™*"""*- 
lest  they  should  teach  his  own  people  some 
evil.  For  along  with  foreigners  come  new 
subjects  of  discourse;  new  discourse  produces 
new  opinions;  and  from  these  there  necessarily 
spring  new  passions  and  desires,  which,  like 
discords  in  music,  would  disturb  the  estab- 
lished government.  He,  therefore,  thought 
it  more  expedient  for  the  city  to  keep  out  of 
it  corrupt  customs  and  manners  than  even  to 
prevent  the  introduction  of  a  pestilence. 


FIRST    DESTRUCTION    OF    NINEVEH 

(B.C.  789) 


T 


FRANCOIS  LENORMANT 

HE  exaggerated  development  of  the 
Assyrian  empire  was  quite  unnatural; 
the  Kings  of  Nineveh  had  never  suc- 
TheAssyri- ceeded  in  welding  into  one  nation  the  nu- 
w"ithout"^    merous  tribes  whom  they  subdued  by  force  of 

unity.  ^  •'  •'     ^  ^ 

arms,  or  in  checking  in  them  the  spirit  of  in- 
dependence; they  had  not  even  attempted  to 
do  so.  The  empire  was  absolutely  without 
cohesion;  the  administrative  system  was  so 
imperfect,  the  bond  attaching  the  various 
provinces  to  each  other,  and  to  the  centre  of 
the  monarchy,  so  weak,  that  at  the  commence- 
ment of  almost  every  reign  a  revolt  broke  out, 
sometimes  at  one  point,  sometimes  at  another. 
It  was  therefore  easy  to  foresee  that,  so  soon 
as  the  reins  of  government  were  no  longer  in 
a  really  strong  hand — so  soon  as  the  King  of 
Assyria  should  cease  to  be  an  active  and  war- 
like king,  always  in  the  field,  always  at  the 
head  of  his  troops — the  great  edifice  labori- 
ously built  up  by  his  predecessors  of  the  tenth 
and  ninth  centuries  would  collapse,  and  the 
(96) 


B.C.  789  FIRST    DESTRUCTION    OF    NINEVEH  97 

immense  fabric  of  empire  would  vanish  like 
smoke  with  such  rapidity  as  to  astonish  the 
world.  And  this  is  exactly  what  occurred 
after  the  death  of  Binlikhish  III. 

The  tablet  in  the  British  Museum  allows  us 
to  follow  year  by  year  the  events  and  the  prog-  dissolution. 
ress  of  the  dissolution  of  the  empire.  Under 
Shalmaneser  V.,  who  reigned  from  828  to 
818,  some  foreign  expeditions  were  still 
made,  as,  for  instance,  to  Damascus  in  819; 
but  the  forces  of  the  empire  were  specially 
engaged  during  many  following  years,  in  at- 
tempting to  hold  countries  already  subdued, 
such  as  Armenia,  then  in  a  chronic  state  of 
revolt;  the  wars  in  one  and  the  same  province 
were  constant,  and  occupied  some  six  succes- 
sive campaigns  (the  Armenian  war  was  from 
827  to  822),  proving  that  no  decisive  results 
were  obtained. 

Under  Asshur-edil-ilani  II.,  who  reigned 
from  818  to  800,  we  do  not  see  any  new  con- 
quests; insurrections  constantly  broke  out,  and 
were  no  longer  confined  to  the  extremities  of 
the  empire;  they  encroached  on  the  heart  of 
the  country,  and  gradually  approached  nearer 
to  Nineveh.  The  revolutionary  spirit  in- 
creased in  the  provinces,  a  great  insurrection 
became  imminent,  and  was  ready  to  break  out 

'  •'  Reig-n  of 

on  the  slightest  excuse.     At  this  period,  804,  ^^^^H^^'^jn^ 
it  is  that  the  British  Museum  tablet  registers, 
as  a  memorable  fact  in  the  column  of  events, 
"peace  in  the  land."    Two  great  plagues  are 


98  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  789 

also  mentioned  under  this  reign,  in  8ii  and 
805,  and  on  the  13th  of  June,  809  (30  Sivan 
in  the  eponomy  of  Bur-el-salkhi),  an  almost 
total  eclipse  of  the  sun  visible  at  Nineveh. 

The  revolution  was  not  long  in  coming. 
Asshurlikhish  ascended  the  throne  in  800,  and 
fixed  his  residence  at  Nineveh;  he  is  the  Sar- 
danapalus  of  the  Greeks,  the  ever-famous  pro- 
totype of  the  voluptuous  and  effeminate  prince. 
The  tablet  in  the  British  Museum  only  men- 
tions two  expeditions  in  his  reign,  both  of 
small  importance,  in  795  and  794;  to  all  the 
other  years  the  only  notice  is  "in  the  country," 
proving  that  nothing  was  done,  and  that  all 
thought  of  war  was  abandoned.  Sardanapa- 
The  lus  had  entirely  given  himself  up  to  the  orgies 

efleminaie  .'    r>  r  o 

saj-danapa-  qj  j^jg  harcm,  and  never  left  his  palace  walls, 
entirely  renouncing  all  manly  and  warlike 
habits  of  life.  He  had  reigned  thus  for  seven 
years,  and  discontent  continued  to  increase; 
the  desire  for  independence  was  spreading  in 
the  subject  provinces;  the  bond  of  their  obe- 
dience each  year  relaxed  still  more,  and  was 
nearer  breaking,  when  Arbaces,  who  com- 
manded the  Median  contingent  of  the  army 
and  was  himself  a  Mede,  chanced  to  see  in  the 
palace  at  Nineveh  the  king,  in  a  female  dress, 
spindle  in  hand,  hiding  in  the  retirement  of 
the  harem  his  slothful  cowardice  and  vo- 
luptuous life.  He  considered  that  it  would 
be  easy  to  deal  with  a  prince  so  degraded,  who 
would  be  unable  to  renew  the  valorous  tradi- 


B.C.  789  FIRST    DESTRUCTION    OF    NINEVEH  99 

tions  of  his  ancestors.  The  time  seemed  to 
him  to  have  come  when  the  provinces,  held 
only  by  force  of  arms,  might  finally  throw  off  ^^^^^^^^j^^ 
the  weighty  Assyrian  yoke.  Arbaces  com-  ^^'^^■ 
municated  his  ideas  and  projects  to  the  prince 
then  intrusted  with  the  government  of  Baby- 
lon, the  Chaldean  Phul  (Palia  ?),  surnamed 
Balazu  (the  terrible),  a  name  the  Greeks 
have  made  into  Belesis;  he  entered  into  the 
plot  with  the  willingness  to  be  expected  from 
a  Babylonian,  one  of  a  nation  so  frequently 
rising  in  revolt.  Arbaces  and  Balazu  con- 
sulted with  other  chiefs,  who  commanded 
contingents  of  foreign  troops,  and  with  the 
vassal  kings  of  those  countries  that  aspired  to 
independence;  and  they  all  formed  the  reso- 
lution of  overthrowing  Sardanapalus.  Ar- 
baces engaged  to  raise  the  Medes  and  Per- 
sians, while  Balazu  set  on  foot  the  insurrec- 
tion in  Babylon  and  Chaldea.  At  the  end  of 
a  year  the  chiefs  assembled  their  soldiers,  to 
the  number  of  40,000,  in  Assyria,  under  the 
pretext  of  relieving,  according  to  custom,  the 
troops  who  had  served  the  former  year.  When 
once  there,  the  soldiers  broke  into  open  rebel- 
lion. The  tablet  in  the  British  Museum  tells 
us  that  the  insurrection  commenced  at  Calah 
in  792.  Immediately  after  this  the  confusion 
became  so  great  that  from  this  year  there  was 
no  nomination  of  an  eponym. 

Sardanapalus,  rudely  interrupted  in  his  de- 
baucheries by  a  danger  he  had  not  been  able 


100  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  789 

to  foresee,  showed  himself  suddenly  inspired 

Sardanapa-        .    .  .     .  1  .  1    •  1  /■ 

lusshows    with  activity  and  courage;  he  put  himself  at 

unexpected  -^  o     »  1 

valor.  tiie  head  of  the  native  Assyrian  troops  who  re- 
mained faithful  to  him,  met  the  rebels  and 
gained  three  complete  victories  over  them. 
The  confederates  already  began  to  despair 
of  success,  when  Phul,  calling  in  the  aid  of 
superstition  to  a  cause  that  seemed  lost,  de- 
clared to  them  that  if  they  would  hold  to- 
gether for  five  days  more,  the  gods,  whose 
will  he  had  ascertained  by  consulting  the 
stars,  would  undoubtedly  give  them  the  vic- 
tory. 

In  fact,  some  days  afterward  a  large  body 
of  troops,  whom  the  king  had  summoned  to  his 
assistance  from  the  provinces  near  the  Cas- 
pian Sea,  went  over,  on  their  arrival,  to  the 
side  of  the  insurgents  and  gained  them  a  vic- 
tory. Sardanapalus  then  shut  himself  up  in 
Nineveh,  and  determined  to  defend  himself  to 

A  siege  of  thc  last.     Thc  siege  continued  two  years,  for 

two  years.  ,,  r      .  •  /•  1 

the  walls  of  the  city  were  too  strong  for  the 
battering  machines  of  the  enemy,  who  were 
compelled  to  trust  to  reducing  it  by  famine. 
Sardanapalus  was  under  no  apprehension, 
confiding  in  an  oracle  declaring  that  Nineveh 
should  never  be  taken  until  the  river  became 
its  enemy.  But,  in  the  third  year,  rain  fell  in 
such  abundance  that  the  waters  of  the  Tigris 
inundated  part  of  the  city  and  overturned  one 
of  its  walls  for  a  distance  of  twenty  stades. 
Then  the  king,  convinced  that  the  oracle  was 


B.C.789  FIRST    DESTRUCTION    OF    NINEVEH  101 

accomplished  and  despairing  of  any  means 
of  escape,  to  avoid  falling  alive  into  the  Jy/e!""^''^' 
enemy's  hands,  constructed  in  his  palace  an 
immense  funeral  pyre,  placed  on  it  his  gold 
and  silver,  and  his  royal  robes,  and  then,  shut- 
ting himself  up  with  his  wives  and  eunuchs  in 
a  chamber  formed  in  the  midst  of  the  pile, 
disappeared  in  the  flames. 

Nineveh  opened  its  gates  to  the  besiegers, 
but  this  tardy  submission  did  not  save  the 
proud  city.  It  was  pillaged  and  burned,  and 
then  razed  to  the  ground  so  completely  as  to 
evidence  the  implacable  hatred  enkindled  in 
the  minds  of  subject  nations  by  the  fierce  and 
cruel  Assyrian  government.  The  Medes  and 
Babylonians  did  not  leave  one  stone  upon  an- 
other in  the  ramparts,  palaces,  temples,  or 
houses  of  the  city  that  for  two  centuries  had 
been  dominant  over  all  Western  Asia.  So 
complete  was  the  destruction  that  the  exca- 
vations of  modern  explorers  on   the  site  of ,,. 

^  Nmeven 

Nineveh  have  not  yet  found  one  single  wall  ^^"^• 
slab  earlier  than  the  capture  of  the  city  by 
Arbaces  and  Balazu.  All  we  possess  of  the 
first  Nineveh  is  one  broken  statue.  History 
has  no  other  example  of  so  complete  a  de- 
struction. 

The  Assyrian  empire  was,  like  the  capi- 
tal, overthrown,  and  the  people  who  had 
taken  part  in  the  revolt  formed  independent 
states — the  Medes  under  Arbaces,  the  Baby- 
lonians under  Phul,  or  Balazu,  and  the  Susi- 


102  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  B.c.789 

anians  under  Shutruk-Nakhunta.    Assyria,  re- 
^d^epend    duccd  to  thc  cnslavcd  state  in  which  she  had 

encv. 

so   long  held  other  countries,    remained   for 
some  time  a  dependency  of  Bahylon. 

This  great  event  occurred  in  the  year  B.C. 

789. 


^  The  Greek 
year. 


THE    OLYMPIC    GAMES 

(B.C.  776) 

MAX  DUNCKER 

THE  great  festival  at  Olympia  was  held 
at  the  first  full  moon  after  the  sum- 
mer solstice;  it  recurred  at  the  end  of 
three  years,  in  every  fourth  year,  alternately, 
after  forty-nine  and  fifty  months. 

The  Greek  year  contained  twelve  months: 
six  of  these  months  had  twenty-nine,  and  six 
thirty,  days;  the  whole  number  of  days  be- 
i^g  354-  During  the  octennial  cycle  this 
year,  which  was  too  short  as  compared  with 
the  course  of  the  sun,  was  again  brought 
into  harmony  with  the  solar  year  by  the 
intercalation  of  three  months,  each  consist- 
ing of  thirty  days.  On  this  cycle  was  also 
based  the  return  of  the  Olympic  festival;  for 
an  intercalary  month  was  inserted  in  the 
course  of  the  four  years  of  the  Olympic  cycle; 
in  the  following  four  years  two  such  months 
were  added,  and  so  on  alternately. 

Only  the  priesthood  and  the  necessary  func- 
tionaries and  servants  resided  constantly  at 
Olympia  near  the  holy  precinct.     This  holy 

(103) 


104  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  B.c.776 

precinct,  the  Altis,  as  it  was  called,  situated 
onheXitte!  at  the  point  where  the  Cladeus  falls  into  the 
Alpheus  from  the  north,  formed  a  tolerably 
regular  square,   surrounded   by  a  wall,   and 
shaded  by  plane  trees  and  olives;  each  side  of 
the  square  measured  a  stadium.     The  north 
wall  extended  to  the  foot  of  the  hill  of  Cronos. 
The  road  from  the  coast,  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Alpheus,  led  up  the  river,  along  its  right 
bank.     At  Heraclea,  probably,  this  road  was 
joined  by  the    road   from   the   city  of   Elis. 
Southward  of  the  Altis  it  crossed  the  Cladeus; 
from  this  road  was  the  entrance  to  the  Altis, 
on  the  south.     To   the   left  of  the  entrance 
gate  stood  the  olive  tree  from  which  the  vic- 
tors' garlands  were  cut;  to  the  left  also,  north- 
west of  the  Altis,  was  the  temple  of  Pelops, 
surrounded  by  a  separate  wall;   and  to  the 
northeast,   opposite   to   this,    stood    the   great 
Aitarof  the  altar  of  the  Olympian  Zeus.     The  substruc- 
jove'"'"^"   ture,  which  was  of   an  elliptical   form,   and 
about  60  paces  in  circuit,  was  over  20  feet  in 
height;  steps  led  up  to  it.     In  the  centre  of 
the  substructure  there   rose  an  altar,  on  the 
surface  of  which  the  victims  were  slain;  from 
the  manner  in  which  the  thighs,  bones,  and 
fat  burned  "the  seers"  (the  lamidae),  as  Pin- 
dar says,   "discerned   the  counsel  of  bright- 
lightening  Zeus."     Opposite  the  great  altar, 
on  the  east  wall  of  the  Altis,  there  was  a  high 
platform  from  which  the  embassies  to  the  fes- 
tival and  all  to  whom  the  right  of  predria  be- 


B.C.776  THE    OLYMPIC    GAMES  105 

longed,  surveyed  the  sacrifice.  The  ashes  of 
the  sacrificial  fire,  and  of  the  consumed  por- 
tions of  the  offerings,  raised  the  altar  upon  the 
substructure  from  year  to  year,  and  from  fes- 
tival to  festival.  On  the  hill  of  Cronos,  in  the 
northw^est  corner  of  the  Altis,  to  the  north  of 
the  temple  of  Pelops,  stood  the  temple  of 
Hera,  which  the  Scilluntians  had  erected  to 
that  goddess:  it  was  a  simple  building,  and^^^^.^,^^ 
the  roof  was  supported  by  wooden  pillars.  p'^°^J""°- 
Outside  the  wall  that  surrounded  it,  at  the 
northeast  corner,  was  the  course  for  the  run- 
ners, wrestlers,  boxers,  athletes  of  the  Pentath- 
lum,  and  pugilists.  This  course  was  carried 
along  the  base  of  the  hill  of  Cronos.  After 
the  introduction  of  the  chariot  race,  the  hip- 
podrome was  added  to  the  Stadium  to  the 
south  and  east.    Toward  the  south,  raised  like  ^ 

'  Description 

a  mole  above  the  bed  of  the  Alpheus,  four  "^^V^g";;^"" 
times  as  long  and  at  least  four  times  as  broad 
as  the  Stadium,  was  the  chariot  course;  this 
had  to  be  traversed  twelve  times,  beginning  at 
the  west,  in  order  finally  to  attain  the  win- 
ning post  at  the  east,  for  which,  in  after  times, 
a  statue  of  Hippodamia,  the  daughter  of 
CEnomaus,  was  substituted. 

As  soon  as  the  truce  and  the  celebration  of 
the  sacrifice  had  been  announced  by  the  mes- 
sengers of  the  presiding  body  of  Eleans  and 
Pisatae,  the  sacrificial  embassies  of  the  Pelo- 
ponnesus flocked  thither  from  all  sides;  those 
of  the  northern  cantons  generally  came  over 


106  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  B.c.776 

the  isthmus;  embassies  and  pilgrims  from  the 
ih^^SJ'-  islands  of  the  i^gean  Sea  and  the  coast  of 
oiympia.  Asia  landed  in  the  Bay  of  Cenchreae;  those 
from  Lower  Italy  and  Sicily  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Alpheus.  The  various  cantons  and  states 
vied  with  one  another  in  the  magnificent 
equipment  of  their  official  representatives, 
of  the  afjyto  itopo?,  oT  Icadcr,  and  the  Oewpoi  who 
accompanied  him;  and  in  providing  splendid 
tents,  valuable  sacrificial  implements,  victims 
without  blemish  for  sacrifice:  these  function- 
aries not  only  had  to  take  part  in  the  great 
sacrifice  in  the  name  of  their  state,  but  had 
also  to  offer  special  sacrifices  at  Oiympia  for 
their  homes.  Wealthy  men  were  chosen  for 
this  office,  who  supplied  out  of  their  own 
Magnifi-     means   whatever   was   omitted   by   the   state. 

cence  dis-      n-<i  r  •  it 

played  at     1  he  powcr  01  3.  City  or  commonwealth  was 

ihe  festival.  * 

measured  by  the  splendor  of  its  embassy  to 
the  festival.  The  competitors  for  the  prizes 
and  members  of  the  league  encamped  under 
tents  or  in  the  open  air  (the  festival  was  held 
in  July,  the  hottest  time  of  the  year)  on  the 
hill  of  Cronos  and  the  height  adjoining  it,  or 
to  the  south  of  the  racecourse  in  the  plain  of 
the  Alpheus.  The  sacrifices  and  contests 
could  not  be  held  in  one  day;  for  the  latter 
were  greatly  extended  and  multiplied,  even 
before  the  middle  of  the  Seventh  Century,  and 
subsequently  became  still  more  numerous;  the 
festival  was  ultimately  prolonged  to  five  days. 
Notwithstanding  the  heat  of  the  July  sun, 


B.C.  776 


THE    OLYMPIC    GAMES  107 


the  dense  crowd  of  spectators  followed  the 
games,  which  began  early  in  the  morning  and 
ended  only  at  sunset,  with  lively  anxiety.  Their 
eyes  hung  upon  every  movement  of  the  com- 
batants, on  every  turn  of  the  conflict;  their  in-crowdsat 

'  •'  the  games. 

terest  grew  warmer  in  the  struggle  of  con- 
querors with  conquerors;  and  in  the  last  de- 
cisive race,  the  final  struggle,  the  various 
reverses  of  fortune  among  the  charioteers,  the 
excitement  became  intense.  If  a  man's  ad- 
versary in  wrestling,  boxing,  or  the  Pancra- 
tium, was  left  dead  upon  the  course,  his 
wreath  of  victory  was  forfeited.  The  winner 
of  the  chariot  race  was  not  the  man  who  drove 
the  chariot,  but  the  possessor  of  the  horses. 
After  the  judges  had  given  sentence,  the  her- 
ald proclaimed  the  names  of  the  victors  and 
their  native  city.  The  head  of  the  victor  was 
then  encircled  with  a  fillet,  to  which  the 
judges  in  sight  of  the  whole  assembly  attached 

.  t  r^  r      ,  •     ,        i-  How  the 

the  wreath.  Sprays  of  the  special  olive  tree  ji^tor  was 
were  cut  with  a  golden  knife  for  these 
wreaths  by  a  boy  chosen  for  the  service,  whose 
parents  must  still  be  alive.  "From  Pisa," 
says  Pindar,  "come  god-given  songs,  to  the 
mortal,  upon  whose  hair  and  on  whose  brow, 
fulfilling  the  ancient  sentence,  the  i^tolian 
man,  the  faultless  Hellanodices,  lays  the  gray 
glory  of  the  olive  branch,  which  once  Am- 
phitryon's son  brought  from  the  shady  sources 
of  the  Danube,  the  fairest  memorial  of  the 
courses  at  Olympia." 


108  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  0.0776 

Though  the  prize  in  the  foot-race,  the  vic- 
tory in  the  most  ancient  and  honorable  of  the 
gymnastic  contests,  was  always  the  most  highly 
esteemed,  and  though  the  festivals  were  al- 
ways designated  by  the  name  of  the  conqueror 
in  that  race,  among  the  nobles  of  all  the  can- 
tons of  Hellas  it  was  considered  the  most 
glorious  distinction  to  have  won  the  victory 
at  Olympia  with  the  four-horsed  chariot.  The 
thank-offering  for  their  victory  was  brought 
by  the  wreathed  conquerors,  accompanied  by 
their  kinsfolk  and  friends,  by  the  theori  of 
their  state,  and  by  all  their  countrymen,  to  the 
l^aor's^    hill  of  Cronos.     From  the  procession  of  the 


were 


honored,  victor's  compatriots  there  rose  a  song  com- 
posed in  his  honor,  or  those  verses  which 
Archilochus  had  made  in  praise  of  the  vic- 
torious Heracles,  returning  from  the  conflict 
with  Angeas,  and  to  which  was  now  appended 
the  name  of  the  Olympian  victor,  with  the 
words:  "Hail  to  thee  in  the  prize  of  victory." 
"When  evening  comes  and  the  clear  light  of 
the  beautiful  Selene  appears,"  says  Pindar, 
"the  holy  city  resounds  with  songs  of  praise  at 
joyful  feasts."  The  judges  feasted  the  theori, 
and  the  different  nationalities  entertained  their 
victors  with  banqueting  and  rejoicing  beneath 
the  tents  of  the  theori.  The  games  were  fol- 
lowed by  the  great  sacrifice — the  hecatomb  to 

Feasts,      Zcus  was  ofifcrcd  at  the  high  altar  of  the  Altis; 

and'^o'ffer-   and  a  grcat  banouet  f or  all  thc  Mf  on  and  all  the 

ings-  ^  1-11  rr        • 

conquerors  was  connected  with  that  offering. 


B.C.776  THE    OLYMPIC    GAMES  109 

The  olive  wreath  of  Olympia  was  looked  The  ouve 
upon  by  the  Greeks  as  the  fairest  possession 
to  which  a  mortal  could  attain.  On  his  re- 
turn to  his  country  the  winner  of  it  was  re- 
ceived with  high  honors.  Every  common- 
wealth regarded  itself  as  having  conquered 
and  gained  the  prize  in  the  person  of  its  vic- 
tor-citizen. He  was  brought  forth  in  a  festal 
procession,  amid  the  singing  of  a  carefully 
practiced  song  of  victory  (some  processional 
songs  of  this  kind  have  been  preserved  among 
the  compositions  of  Pindar),  and  conducted 
to  the  temple  of  the  tutelary  deity  of  the  city. 
To  this  deity  a  thank-ofifering  was  presented 
for  the  victory,  or  rather  for  the  victor,  who 
usually  deposited  and  dedicated  his  wreath  in 
the  temple.  The  conquerors  at  Olympia  had 
also  permanent  honors  and  privileges  as- 
signed them — the  predria  at  public  festivals; 
in  some  places  meals  at  the  hearth  of  the  state,  l^sioT\hT 
that  is,  at  the  public  expense;  freedom  from 
public  burdens;  and  among  the  Spartans  a 
place  of  honor  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
king  when  a  battle  was  to  be  fought.  The  lot 
of  the  Olympic  victor  was  afterward  extolled 
as  divine  among  the  Hellenes.  Plato,  in  order 
to  express  the  highest  stage  of  satisfaction  in 
regard  to  the  members  of  his  ideal  state,  says: 
"They  will  lead  a  life  more  blessed  than  that 
which  falls  to  the  lot  of  the  Olympian  vic- 
tors." 

Out  of  the  offering  of  the  Pisatae  and  Eleans, 


victors. 


110  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  77-, 

in  the  plain  of  the  Alpheus,  in  which,  in  the 
first  instance,  the  Acheans,  the  Caucones  of 
Scillus,  and  the  Messenians  had  obtained  a 
share,  there  grew  up  in  the  course  of  a  hun- 
dred and  twenty  years  a  general  sacrifice,  in 

Originally  . 

a  sacrifice,  yvhich  thc  wholc  Hellenic  people  partici- 
pated. Its  importance  was  all  the  greater 
because  Greek  colonization  had  meantime 
become  greatly  extended  and  the  members 
of  the  Hellenic  race  were  separated  by  con- 
siderable distances.  Here  were  to  be  found 
all  the  cantons  and  cities  of  the  peninsula,  all 
the  colonies  of  the  east  and  west;  Greeks 
from  the  coast  of  Thrace,  from  the  Helles- 
pont, from  the  Bosphorus  as  far  as  Trapezus, 
from  the  shores  and  islands  of  the  /Egean  Sea, 
from  Crete  and  Rhodes,  from  Croton  and 
Tarentum,  from  Syracuse  and  the  banks  of 
the  Himera,  in  order  to  present  in  common 
a  great  sacrifice  to  the  god  of  heaven,  the 
supreme  disposer  of  their  destiny.  This  fes- 
tival therefore  became  an  assembly  of  all  Hel- 

assembiT  Icnic  statcs,  and  of  the  Hellenic  people;  and 
the  holy  place  at  Olympia,  a  capital  of  Hellas, 
which  every  fourth  year  was  built  with  the 
tents  of  the  festival  embassies  and  pilgrims, 
and  as  often  broken  up. 

The  assemblage  of  all  the  cantons  at  the 
Olympic  festival  must  necessarily  have  been 
stimulating  to  trade  and  commerce.  With  the 
sacrifice  there  was  also  held  a  great  fair.  All 
the  sounds  of  the  various  Hellenic  dialects 


B.C. 776  THE    OLYMPIC    GAMES  111 

were  heard  one  with  another,  friends  and 
hosts  exchanged  greetings,  old  connections  infponance 
were  renewed  and  new  ones  formed,  eminent  festival, 
men  of  the  cantons  and  colonies  enjoyed  per- 
sonal intercourse.  With  surprise  and  delight 
the  Hellenic  people  must  have  realized  the 
number  of  tribes  and  cities  that  belonged  to 
them;  they  must  have  been  astonished  at  the 
prosperity  of  the  Greek  colonies  beyond  sea, 
their  foreign  slaves,  their  rich  possessions,  far 
exceeding  those  of  the  mother  country.  Thus 
these  assemblies,  which  had  originated  in 
the  religious  impulse  of  the  Hellenes  to 
worship  together  at  one  altar  of  peculiar  sanc- 
tity, strengthened  not  only  the  consciousness 
of  a  common  worship  of  the  gods,  but  also  the 
feeling  of  national  community.  Here  again 
religious  and  political  elements  produced  by 
their  joint  action  great  results.  The  sight  of 
these  men  from  all  the  territories  of  Hellas, 
of  these  competitors  from  all  districts,  who  in 
the  presence  of  their  highest  god,  and  of  the 
whole  Hellenic  people,  measured  their  powers 
against  each  other,  and  strove  for  the  prize  of 
manly  strength  and  skill,  aroused  the  national  pHde""^ 
pride  of  the  Hellenes.  At  Olympia  they 
learned  to  look  with  self-conscious  reliance 
on  their  fatherland  and  people,  and  to  extol 
the  favor  of  the  gods  who  had  bestowed  upon 
them  such  extensive  lands  and  such  noble 
citizens. 


THE    FOUNDING    OF    ROME 

(B.C.  753) 


A 


PLUTARCH 

MULIUS  being  dead,  and  the  troubles 
composed,  the  two  brothers  were  not 
willing  to  live  in  Alba,  without  gov- 
erning there;  nor  yet  to  take  the  government 
upon  them  during  their  grandfather's  life. 
Having,  therefore,  invested  him  with  it,  and 
paid  due  honors  to  their  mother,  they  deter- 
mined to  dwell  in  a  city  of  their  own,  and,  for 

Romulus  J  '  ' 

fe"avi^A"iba.  that  purpose,  to  build  one  in  the  place  where 
they  had  their  first  nourishment.  This  seems, 
at  least,  to  be  the  most  plausible  reason  of  their 
quitting  Alba;  and  perhaps,  too,  it  was  neces- 
sary, as  a  great  number  of  slaves  and  fugitives 
was  collected  about  them,  either  to  see  their 
aflfairs  entirely  ruined,  if  these  should  dis- 
perse, or  with  them  to  seek  another  habita- 
tion;  for  that  the  people  of  Alba  refused  to 
permit  the  fugitives  to  mix  with  them,  or  to 
receive  them  as  citizens,  sufficiently  appears 
from  the  rape  of  the  women,  which  was  not 
undertaken  out  of  a  licentious  humor,  but  de- 
liberately,   and   through   necessity,   from   the 

(.12) 


B.C.7S3  THE    FOUNDING    OF    ROME  113 

want  of  wives;  since,  after  they  seized  them, 
they  treated  them  very  honorably. 

As  soon  as  the  foundation  of  the  city  was 
laid,  they  opened  a  place  of  refuge  for  fugi- 
tives, which  they  called  the  Temple  of  the 
Asylean  God.  Here  they  received  all  that 
came,  and  would  neither  deliver  up  the  slave 
to  his  master,  the  debtor  to  his  creditor,  nor^°^^^2^ 
the  murderer  to  the  magistrate;  declaring  that 
they  were  directed  by  the  oracle  of  Apollo  to 
preserve  the  asylum  from  all  violation.  Thus 
the  city  was  soon  peopled;  for  it  is  said  that 
the  houses  at  first  did  not  exceed  a  thousand. 

While  they  were  intent  upon  building,  a 
dispute  soon  arose  about  the  place.  Romulus 
having  built  a  square,  which  he  called  Rome, 
would  have  the  city  there;  but  Remus  marked 
out  a  more  secure  situation  on  Mount  Aven- 
tine,  which,  from  him,  was  called  Remonium, 
but  now  has  the  name  of  Rignarium.  The 
dispute  was  referred  to  the  decision  of  augury; 
and  for  this  purpose  they  sat  down  in  the  open 
air,  when  Remus,  as  they  tell  us,  saw  six  vul- 
tures, and  Romulus  twice  as  many.  Some 
say,  Remus's  account  of  the  number  he  had 
seen  was  true,  and  that  of  Romulus  not  so;  but 
when  Remus  came  up  to  him,  he  did  really 
see  twelve. 

When  Remus  knew  that  he  was  imposed 
upon,  he  was  highly  incensed,  and  as  Romulus 
was  opening  a  ditch  round  the  place  where  the  kiiied. 
walls  were  to  be  built,  he  ridiculed  some  parts 


114  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  753 

of  the  work,  and  obstructed  others.  At  last, 
as  he  presumed  to  leap  over  it,  some  say  he 
fell  by  the  hand  of  Romulus;  others  by  that 
of  Celer,  one  of  his  companions. 

Romulus  buried  his  brother  Remus,  to- 
gether with  his  foster-fathers,  in  Remonia,  and 
then  built  his  city,  having  sent  for  persons 
from  Hetruria,  who  (as  is  usual  in  sacred  mys- 
teries), according  to  stated  ceremonies  and 
written  rules,  were  to  order  and  direct  how 
everything  was  to  be  done.  First,  a  circular 
Romurus    ditch  was  dug  about  what  is  now  called  the 

marks  out  ^ 

theciiy.  Comitium,  or  Hall  of  Justice,  and  the  first 
fruits  of  everything  that  is  reckoned  either 
good  by  use,  or  necessary  by  nature,  were  cast 
into  it;  and  then  each  bringing  a  small  quan- 
tity of  the  earth  of  the  country  from  whence 
he  came,  threw  it  in  promiscuously.  This 
ditch  had  the  name  of  Mundus,  the  same  as 
that  of  the  universe.  In  the  next  place,  they 
marked  out  the  city  like  a  circle  round  this 
centre;  and  the  founder  having  fitted  a  brazen 
plowshare  to  a  plow,  and  yoked  a  bull  and 
cow,  himself  traced  a  deep  furrow  around  the 
boundaries.  The  business  of  those  who  fol- 
lowed was  to  turn  all  the  clods  raised  by  the 
plow  inward  toward  the  city,  and  not  to  suffer 
any  to  remain  outward.  This  line  described 
the  compass  of  the  city.  Where  they  designed 
to  have  a  gate,  they  lifted  the  plow  out  of  the 
ground,  making  a  break  for  it.  Hence  they 
look  upon  the  whole  wall  as  sacred  except  the 


B.C.  753 


THE    FOUNDING    OF    ROME  115 


Romulus 


gateways.  If  they  considered  the  gates  in  the 
same  light  as  the  rest,  it  would  be  deemed  un- 
lawful either  to  receive  the  necessaries  of  life 
by  them,  or  to  carry  out  through  them  what 
is  unclean. 

The  day  on  which  they  began  to  build  the 
city  is  universally  allowed  to  be  the  twenty- 
first  of  April,  and  is  celebrated  annually  by 
the  Romans  as  the  birthday  of  Rome. 

When  the  city  was  built,  Romulus  divided 
the  younger  part  of  the  inhabitants  into  bat- 
talions. Each  corps  consisted  of  three  thou- 
sand foot,  and  three  hundred  horse,  and  was 
called  a  legion,  because  the  most  warlike  per-  dSes^ 

°  '  ^  the  inhabi- 

sons  were  selected.  The  rest  of  the  multitude  '^"'^ 
he  called  The  People.  A  hundred  of  the  most 
considerable  citizens  he  took  for  his  council, 
with  the  title  of  Patricians,  and  the  whole 
body  was  called  the  Senate,  which  signifies  an 
Assembly  of  Old  Men. 

In  the  fourth  month  after  the  building  of 
the  city,  as  Fabius  informs  us,  the  rape  of  the 
Sabine  women  was  put  in  execution.  Some 
say,  Romulus  himself,  who  was  naturally  war- 
like and  persuaded  by  certain  oracles  that  the 
Fates  had  decreed  Rome  to  obtain  her  great- 
ness by  military  achievements,  began  hostili- 
ties against  the  Sabines,  and  seized  only  thirty 
virgins,  being  more  desirous  of  war  than  of 
wives  for  his  people.  But  this  is  not  likely. 
For,  as  he  saw  his  city  soon  filled  with  inhabi- 
tants, very  few  of  whom  were  married,  the 


Sabine 

women 


116  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  ,.0753 

greatest  part  consisting  of  a  mixed  rabble  of 
mean  and  obscure  persons,  to  whom  no  regard 
Ra  cofihe^^^  paid,  and  who  were  not  expecting  to  settle 
in  any  place  whatever,  the  enterprise  naturally 
took  that  turn ;  and  he  hoped  that.f  rom  this  at- 
tempt, though  not  a  just  one,  some  alliance 
and  union  with  the  Sabines  would  be  obtained, 
when  it  appeared  that  they  treated  the  women 
kindly.  In  order  to  this,  he  first  gave  out  that 
he  had  found  the  altar  of  some  god,  which 
had  been  covered  with  earth. 

Upon  this  discovery,  Romulus,  by  proc- 
lamation, appointed  a  day  for  a  splendid 
sacrifice,  with  public  games.  Multitudes 
assembled  at  the  time,  and  he  himself  pre- 
sided, sitting  among  his  nobles,  clothed  in  pur- 
ple. As  a  signal  for  the  assault,  he  was  to 
rise,  gather  up  his  robe,  and  fold  it  about  him. 
Many  of  his  people  wore  swords  that  day,  and 
kept  their  eyes  upon  him,  watching  for  the 
signal,  which  was  no  sooner  given  than  they 
drew  them,  and  rushing  on  with  a  shout, 
seized  the  daughters  of  the  Sabines,  but  quietly 
suffered  the  men  to  escape.  Some  say  only 
thirty  were  carried  off,  who  each  gave  name 
to  a  tribe;  but  Valerius  Antias  makes  their 
number  five  hundred  and  twenty-seven;  and, 
according  to  Juba,  there  were  six  hundred  and 
eighty-three,  all  virgins.  This  was  the  best 
apology  for  Romulus;  for  they  had  taken  but 
one  married  woman,  named  Hersilia,  who 
was  afterward  chiefly  concerned  in  reconcil- 


B.C.7S3  THE    FOUNDING    OF    ROME  117 

ing  them;  and  her  they  took  by  mistake,  as 
they  were  not  incited  to  this  violence  by  lust 
or  injustice,  but  by  their  desire  to  conciliate 
and  unite  the  two  nations  in  the  strongest  ties. 
Some  tell  us,  Hersilia  was  married  to  Hos- 
tilius,  one  of  the  most  eminent  men  among  the 
Romans;  others,  that  Romulus  himself  mar- 
ried her,  and  had  two  children  by  her,  a 
daughter  named  Prima,  on  account  of  her  be- 
ing first  born,  and  an  only  son,  whom  he  called 
Aollius,  because  of  the  great  concourse  of  peo- 
ple to  him,  but  after  ages,  Abillius. 

Among  those  that  committed  this  rape,  we 
are  told,  some  of  the  meaner  sort  happened 

1  •  ^  •        .  r  Origin  of 

to  be  carrymg  off  a  virgm  of  uncommon  ^^^^^'^l^ 
beauty  and  stature;  and  when  some  of  supe- 
rior rank  that  met  them  attempted  to  take  her 
from  them,  they  cried  out  they  were  conduct- 
ing her  to  Talasius,  a  young  man  of  excellent 
character.  When  they  heard  this,  they  ap- 
plauded their  design;  and  some  even  turned 
back  and  accompanied  them  with  the  utmost 
satisfaction,  all  the  way  exclaiming  Talasius. 
Hence  this  became  a  term  in  the  nuptial  songs 
of  the  Romans,  as  Hymeneus  is  in  those  of  the 
Greeks;  for  Talasius  is  said  to  have  been  very 
happy  in  marriage. 

And  it  is  a  custom  still  observed,  for  the 
bride  not  to  go  over  the  threshold  of  her  hus- 
band's house  herself,  but  to  be  carried  over, 
because  the  Sabine  virgins  did  not  go  in  vol- 
untarily,  but  were   carried   in   by   violence. 


118  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  ..0.753 

Some  add,  that  the  bride's  hair  is  parted  with 
the  point  of  a  spear,  in  memory  of  the  first 
marriages  being  brought  about  in  a  warlike 
manner. 

The  Sabines  were  a  numerous  and  warlike 
people,  but  they  dwelt  in  unwalled  towns, 
thinking  it  became  them,  who  were  a  colony 
of  the  Lacedemonians,  to  be  bold  and  fear- 
less. But  as  they  saw  themselves  bound  by 
such  pledges,  and  were  very  solicitous  for  their 
daughters,  they  sent  ambassadors  to  Romulus 
with  moderate  and  equitable  demands:  That 
he  should  return  them  the  young  women,  and 
disavow  the  violence,  and  then  the  two  nations 
should  proceed  to  establish  a  correspondence, 
and  contract  alliances  in  a  friendly  and  legal 
way.  Romulus,  however,  refused  to  part  with 
the  young  women,  and  entreated  the  Sabines 
to  give  their  sanction  to  what  had  been  done, 
whereupon  some  of  them  lost  time  in  consult- 
ing and  making  preparations.  But  Acron, 
King  of  the  Ceninensians,  a  man  of  spirit  and 
an  able  general,  suspected  the  tendency  of 
Romulus's  first  enterprises;  and,  when  he  had 
behaved  so  boldly  in  the  rape,  looked  upon 
him  as  one  that  would  grow  formidable,  and 
indeed  insufferable  to  his  neighbors,  except 
he  were  chastised.  Acron,  therefore,  went  to 
between  ^^^^  ^^^^  cncmy,  and  Romulus  prepared  to  re- 
Romuius.'*  ceive  him.  When  they  came  in  sight,  and  had 
well  viewed  each  other,  a  challenge  for  single 
combat  was  mutually  given,  their  forces  stand- 


B.C.753  THE    FOUNDING    OF    ROME  119 

ing  under  arms  in  silence.  Romulus  on  this 
occasion  made  a  vow,  that  if  he  conquered  his 
enemy,  he  would  himself  dedicate  his  adver- 
sary's arms  to  Jupiter:  in  consequence  of 
which,  he  both  overcame  Acron,  and,  after 
battle  was  joined,  routed  his  army,  and  took 
his  city.  But  he  did  no  injury  to  its  inhabi- 
tants, unless  it  were  such  to  order  them  to  de- 
molish their  houses,  and  follow  him  to  Rome, 
as  citizens  entitled  to  equal  privileges  with  the 
rest.  Indeed,  there  was  nothing  that  contrib- 
uted more  to  the  greatness  of  Rome  than  that 
she  was  always  uniting  and  incorporating  with 
herself  those  whom  she  conquered.     Romulus 

11  Origin  of 

having  considered  how  he  should  perform  his  [|?j^^^^^*" 
vow  in  the  most  acceptable  manner  to  Jupiter, 
and  withal  make  the  procession  most  agree- 
able to  his  people,  cut  down  a  great  oak  that 
grew  in  the  camp,  and  hewed  it  into  the  fig- 
ure of  a  trophy;  to  this  he  fastened  Acron's 
whole  suit  of  armor,  disposed  in  its  proper 
form.  Then  he  put  on  his  own  robes,  and 
wearing  a  crown  of  laurel  on  his  head,  his  hair 
gracefully  flowing,  he  took  the  trophy  erect 
upon  his  right  shoulder,  and  so  marched  on, 
singing  the  song  of  victory  before  his  troops, 
who  followed  completely  armed,  while  the 
citizens  received  him  with  joy  and  admira- 
tion. This  procession  was  the  origin  and 
model  of  future  triumphs. 

After  the  defeat  of  the  Ceninenses,  while 
the  rest  of  the  Sabines  were  busied  in  prepara- 


120  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


■•C.  753 


tions,  the  people  of  Fidena?,  Crustumenium, 
and  Antemnae,  united  against  the  Romans.     A 
battle  ensued,  in  which  they  were  likewise  de- 
feated,  and   surrendered   to   Romulus,   their 
cities  to  be  spoiled,  their  lands  to  be  divided, 
and  themselves  to  be  transplanted  to  Rome. 
All  the  lands  thus  acquired,   he   distributed 
among  the  citizens,  except  what  belonged  to 
the  parents  of  the  stolen  virgins;  for  those  he 
left  in  the  possession  of  their  former  owners. 
The  rest  of  the  Sabines,  enraged  at  this,  ap- 
pointed Tatius  their  general,  and  carried  war 
to  the  gates  of  Rome.     The  city  was  difficult 
of  access,  having  a  strong  garrison  on  the  hill 
where  the  Capitol  now  stands,  commanded 
by  Tarpeius,  not  by  the  virgin  Tarpeia,   as 
some  say,  who  in  this  represent  Romulus  as  a 
very  weak  man.     However,  this  Tarpeia,  the 
T^rpeil.     governor's  daughter,  charmed  with  the  golden 
bracelets  of  the  Sabines,  betrayed  the  fort  into 
their  hands;  and  asked,  in  return  for  her  trea- 
son, what  they  wore  on  their  left  arms.     Ta- 
tius agreeing  to  the  condition,  she  opened  one 
of  the  gates  by  night,  and  let  in  the  Sabines. 
It  seems,  it  was  not  the  sentiment  of  Antigonus 
alone,  who  said.  He  loved  men  while  they 
were  betraying,  but  hated  them  when  they  had 
betrayed;  nor  of  Caesar,  who  said,  in  the  case 
of  Rhymitacles  the  Thracian,  "He  loved  the 
treason,  but  hated  the  traitor."     But  men  are 
commonly  affected  toward  villains,  whom  they 
have  occasion  for,  just  as  they  are  toward  ven- 


B.C.7S3  THE    FOUNDING    OF    ROME  121 

omous  creatures,  which  they  have  need  of  for 
their  poison  and  their  gall.  While  they  are 
of  use  they  love  them,  but  abhor  them  when 
their  purpose  is  effected.  Such  were  the  sen- 
timents of  Tatius  with  regard  to  Tarpeia  when 
he  ordered  the  Sabines  to  remember  their 
promise,  and  to  grudge  her  nothing  which 
they  had  on  their  left  arms.  He  was  the  first 
to  take  off  his  bracelet,  and  throw  it  to  her, 
and  with  that  his  shield.  As  every  one  did 
the  same,  she  was  overpowered  by  the  gold 
and  shields  thrown  upon  her,  and  sinking  un- 
der the  weight,  expired.  Tarpeius,  too,  was 
taken,  and  condemned  by  Romulus  for  treason. 

From  the  place  where  Tarpeia  was  buried, 
the  hill  had  the  name  of  the  Tarpeian,  till  The 
Tarquin  consecrated  the  place  to  Jupiter,  at  ^oX 
which  time  her  bones  were  removed,  and  so  it 
lost  her  name ;  except  that  part  of  the  Capitol 
from  which  malefactors  are  thrown  down, 
which  is  still  called  the  Tarpeian  Rock.  The 
Sabines  thus  possessed  of  the  fort,  Romulus 
in  great  fury  offered  them  battle,  which  Ta- 
tius did  not  decline,  as  he  saw  he  had  a  place 
of  strength  to  retreat  to  in  case  he  was  worsted. 

When  they  were  preparing  here  to  renew 
the  combat  with  the  same  animosity  as  at  first, 
their  ardor  was  repressed  by  an  astonishing 
spectacle.  The  daughters  of  the  Sabines,  that 
had  been  forcibly  carried  off,  appeared  rush- 
ing this  way  and  that  with  loud  cries  and 
lamentations,  like  persons  distracted,  amid  the 

8  1  r-  '  Vol  1 


Tarpeian 


The  women 
bring  about 
peace. 


122  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  75a 

drawn  swords,  and  over  the  dead  bodies,  to 
come  at  their  husbands  and  fathers;  some 
carrying  their  infants  in  their  arms,  some  dart- 
ing forward  with  dishevelled  hair,  but  all  call- 
ing by  turns  both  upon  the  Sabines  and  the  Ro- 
mans, by  the  tenderest  names.  Both  parties 
were  extremely  moved,  and  room  was  made 
for  them  between  the  two  armies.  Their 
lamentations  pierced  to  the  utmost  ranks,  and 
all  were  deeply  afifected;  particularly  when 
their  upbraiding  and  complaints  ended  in  sup- 
plication and  entreaty.  Hersilia  having  said 
a  great  deal  to  this  purpose,  and  others  join- 
ing in  the  same  request,  a  truce  was  agreed 
upon,  and  the  generals  proceeded  to  a  confer- 
ence. In  the  meantime  the  women  presented 
their  husbands  and  children  to  their  fathers 
and  brothers,  brought  refreshments  to  those 
that  wanted  them,  and  carried  the  wounded 
home  to  be  cured.  Here  they  showed  them, 
that  they  had  the  ordering  of  their  own  houses, 
what  attentions  their  husbands  paid  them,  and 
with  what  respect  and  indulgence  they  were 
treated. 

Upon  this  a  peace  was  concluded,  the  condi- 
tions of  which  were,  that  such  of  the  women  as 
of  peace.  q\^q^q  (-q  remain  with  their  husbands  should 
be  exempt  from  all  drudgery,  except  spinning; 
that  the  city  should  be  inhabited  by  the  Ro- 
mans and  Sabines  in  common,  with  the  name 
of  Rome,  from  Romulus;  but  that  all  the  citi- 
zens, from  Cures,  the  capital  of  the  Sabines, 


Conditions 


B.C.  753 


THE    FOUNDING    OF    ROME  123 


and  the  country  of  Tatius,  should  be  called 
Quirites;  and  that  the  regal  power,  and  the 
command  of  the  army,  should  be  equally 
shared  between  them.  The  place  where  these  comkium. 
articles  were  ratified,  is  still  called  Comitium, 
from  the  Latin  word  coire,  which  signifies 
to  assemble. 


GAUTAMA    BUDDHA 

(B.C.  623—543) 

T.  W.  RHYS-DAVIDS 

IT  was  at  Kapilavastu,  a  few  days'  journey 
north  of  Benares,  that  in  the  Fifth  Cen- 
tury, B.C.^  a  Rajah  Suddhodana  ruled  over 
a  tribe  who  were  called  the  Sakyas,  and  who 
from  their  well-watered  rice-fields  could  see 
the  giant  Himalayas  looming  up  against  the 
clear  blue  of  the  Indian  sky.  Their  supplies 
of  water  were  drawn  from  the  River  Rohini, 

The  birth  ol  ' 

Gautama.  (}^g  modcm  Kohana ;  and  though  the  use  of 
the  river  was  in  times  of  drought  the  cause 
of  disputes  between  the  Sakyas  and  the  neigh- 
boring Koliyans,  the  two  clans  were  then  at 
peace ;  and  two  daughters  of  the  Rajah  of  Koli, 
which  was  only  eleven  miles  east  of  Kapila- 
vastu, were  the  principal  wives  of  Suddho- 
dana. Both  were  childless,  and  great  was  the 
rejoicing  when,  in  about  the  forty-fifth  year  of 
her  age,  the  elder  sister,  Mahamaya,  prom- 
ised her  husband  a  son.  In  due  time  she 
started  with  the  intention  of  being  confined  at 
her  parents'  home,  but  the  party  halting  on 
the  way  under  the  shade  of  some  lofty  satin 
trees,  in  a  pleasant  garden  called  Lumbini  on 

(124) 


B.C.  623-543  GAUTAMA    BUDDHA  126 

the  river  side,  her  son,  the  future  Buddha, 
was  there  unexpectedly  born. 

He  was  in  after  years  more  generally  known 
by  his  family  name  of  Gautama,  but  his  indi- 
vidual name  was  Siddhartha.  When  he  was 
nineteen  years  old  he  was  married  to  his 
cousin  Yasodhara,  daughter  of  the  Koliyan 
rajah,  and  gave  himself  up  to  a  life  of  Orien- 
tal luxury  and  delight.  Soon  after  this,  ac- 
cording to  the  southern  account,  his  relations 
formally  complained  to  the  rajah  that  his  son 
lived  entirely  for  pleasure  without  learning  H's^^^^j 
anything,  and  asked  what  they  should  do  un-  ^''"ss*^^- 
der  such  a  leader  if  war  arose.  Gautama, 
hearing  of  this,  is  said  to  have  appointed  a  day 
for  a  trial  of  his  prowess,  and  by  defeating 
all  his  competitors  in  manly  exercises  and 
surpassing  even  his  teachers  in  knowledge,  to 
have  won  back  the  good  opinion  of  the  dis- 
affected Sakyas.  This  is  the  solitary  record 
of  his  youth;  we  hear  nothing  more  till,  in  his 
twenty-ninth  year,  it  is  related  that,  driving 
to  his  pleasure-grounds  one  day,  he  was  struck 
by  the  sight  of  a  man  utterly  broken  down  by 
age,  on  another  occasion  by  the  sight  of  a  man 
suffering  from  a  loathsome  disease,  and  some 
months  after  by  the  horrible  sight  of  a  de- 
composing corpse.  Each  time  his  charioteer, 
whose  name  was  Channa,  told  him  that  such 
was  the  fate  of  all  living  beings.  Soon  after 
he  saw  an  ascetic  walking  in  a  calm  and  dig- 
nified manner,  and  asking  who  that  was,  was 


126  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  8.0633-543 

told  by  his  charioteer  the  character  and  aims 
of  the  ascetics.  The  different  accounts  of  this 
vary  so  much  as  to  cast  great  doubts  on  their 
His  change  accuracy.  It  is,  however,  clear  from  what 
follows  that  about  this  time  the  mind  of  the 
young  rajput  must,  from  some  cause  or 
other,  have  been  deeply  stirred. 

Subjectively,  though  not  objectively,  these 
visions  may  be  supposed  to  have  appeared  to 
Gautama.  After  seeing  the  last  of  them,  he  is 
said  to  have  spent  the  afternoon  in  his  pleas- 
ure-grounds by  the  river-side;  and  having 
bathed,  to  have  entered  his  chariot  in  order 
to  return  home.  Just  then  a  messenger  ar- 
rived with  the  news  that  his  wife  Yasodhara 

His  son  IS 

""'■"■  had  given  birth  to  a  son, his  only  child.  "This," 
said  Gautama  quietly,  "is  a  new  and  strong 
tie  I  shall  have  to  break."  But  the  people 
of  Kapilavastu  were  greatly  delighted  at  the 
birth  of  the  young  heir,  the  rajah's  only  grand- 
son. Gautama's  return  became  an  ovation; 
musicians  preceded  and  followed  his  chariot, 
while  shouts  of  joy  and  triumph  fell  on  his 
ear.  Among  these  sounds  one  especially  at- 
tracted his  attention.  It  was  the  voice  of  a 
young  girl,  his  cousin,  who  sang  a  stanza,  say- 
ing, "Happy  the  father,  happy  the  mother, 
happy  the  wife  of  such  a  son  and  husband." 
In  the  word  "happy"  lay  a  double  meaning; 
it  meant  also  freed  from  the  chains  of  exist- 
ence, delivered,  saved.  Grateful  to  one  who, 
at  such  a  time,  reminded  him  of  his  highest 


B.C.  623-S43  GAUTAMA    BUDDHA  127 

hopes,  Gautama,  to  whom  such  things  had  no 
longer  any  value,  took  off  his  collar  of  pearls 
and  sent  it  to  her.  She  imagined  this  was  the 
beginning  of  a  courtship,  and  began  to  build 
day-dreams  about  becoming  his  principal 
wife,  but  he  took  no  further  notice  of  her  and 
passed  on.  That  evening  the  dancing-girls 
came  to  go  through  the  Natch  dances,  then  as 
now  so  common  on  festive  occasions  in  many 
parts  of  India;  but  he  paid  them  no  attention, 
and  gradually  fell  into  an  uneasy  slumber. 
At  midnight  he  awoke ;  the  dancing-girls  were  spends  the 

<-"  '  o   o  evening  in 

lying  in  the  anteroom ;  an  overpowering  loath-  ^^""^e^^- 
ing  filled  his  soul.  He  arose  instantly  with  a 
mind  fully  made  up — ''roused  into  activity," 
says  the  Sinhalese  chronicle,  "like  a  man  who 
is  told  that  his  house  is  on  fire."  He  called 
out  to  know  who  was  on  guard ;  and  finding  it 
was  his  charioteer  Channa,  he  told  him  to  sad- 
dle his  horse.  While  Channa  was  gone,  Sid- 
dhartha  gently  opened  the  door  of  the  room 
where  Yasodhara  was  sleeping,  surrounded 
by  flowers,  with  one  hand  on  the  head  of  her 
child.  He  had  hoped  to  take  the  babe  in  his 
arms  for  the  last  time  before  he  went,  but  now 
he  stood  for  a  few  moments  irresolute  on  the 
threshold  looking  at  them.  At  last  the  fear  dons  at" 
of  awakening  Yasodhara  prevailed;  he  tore 
himself  away,  promising  himself  to  return  to 
them  as  soon  as  his  mind  had  become  clear, 
as  soon  as  he  had  become  a  Buddha — i.e.  En- 
lightened— and  then  he  could  return  to  them 


128  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  623-543 

not  only  as  husband  and  father,  but  as  teacher 
and  savior.  It  is  said  to  have  been  broad 
moonlight,  on  the  full  moon  of  the  month  of 
July,  when  the  young  chief,  with  Channa  as 
his  sole  companion,  leaving  his  father's  home, 
his  wealth  and  power,  his  wife  and  child,  be- 
hind him,  went  out  into  the  wilderness  to 
become  a  penniless  and  despised  student  and 
a  homeless  wanderer. 

Next  is  related  an  event  in  which  we  may 
again  see  a  subjective  experience  given  under 
the  form  of  an  objective  reality.  Mara,  the 
great  tempter,  appears  in  the  sky  and  urges 
Gautama  to  stop,   promising  him,   in  seven 

Gautama's      ,  .  ,    ,   •  ,  1         r 

S'^"  days,  a  universal  kmgdom  over  the  four  great 
continents  if  he  will  but  give  up  his  enter- 
prise. When  his  words  fail  to  have  any  ef- 
fect, the  tempter  consoles  himself  by  the  con- 
fident hope  that  he  will  still  overcome  his 
enemy,  saying,  "Sooner  or  later,  some  lustful 
or  malicious  or  angry  thought  must  arise  in 
his  mind;  in  that  moment  I  shall  be  his  mas- 
ter"; and  from  that  hour,  adds  the  Burmese 
chronicle,  "as  a  shadow  always  follows  the 
body,  so  he  too  from  that  day  always  followed 
the  Blessed  One,  striving  to  throw  every  ob- 
stacle in  his  way  toward  the  Buddhahood," 
Gautama  rides  a  long  distance  that  night,  only 
stopping  at  the  banks  of  the  Anoma  beyond 
the  Koliyan  territory.  There,  on  the  sandy 
bank  of  the  river,  at  a  spot  where  later  piety 
erected  a  dagaba  (a  solid  dome-shaped  relic 


B.C.  623-543  GAUTAMA    BUDDHA  129 

shrine),  he  cuts  off  with  his  sword  his  long 
flowing  locks,  and  taking  off  his  ornaments, 
sends  them  and  the  horse  back  in  charge  of  ^   . 

o  Gautama 

the  unwilling  Channa  to  Kapilavastu.  The  ascetT"  ^" 
next  seven  days  were  spent  alone  in  a  grove 
of  mango  trees  near  by,  whence  the  ascetic 
walks  on  to  Rajagriha,  the  capital  of  Mag- 
adha,  and  residence  of  Bimbisara,  one  of  the 
then  most  powerful  rulers  in  the  valley  of 
the  Ganges.  He  was  favorably  received  by 
the  rajah,  a  friend  of  his  father's;  but  though 
asked  to  do  so,  he  would  not  as  yet  assume 
the  responsibilities  of  a  teacher.  He  attached 
himself  first  to  a  Brahman  sophist  named 
Alara,  and  afterward  to  another  named  Ud- 
raka,  from  whom  he  learned  all  that  Hindu  "rVhrnan" 
philosophy  had  then  to  teach.  Still  unsatis- p'"'"^'' 
fied,  he  next  retired  to  the  jungle  of  Uruvela, 
on  the  most  northerly  spur  of  the  Vindhya 
range  of  mountains,  and  there  for  six  years, 
attended  by  five  faithful  disciples,  he  gave 
himself  up  to  the  severest  penance  and  self- 
torture,  till  his  fame  as  an  ascetic  spread  in 
all  the  country  round  about,  "like  the  sound," 
says  the  Burmese  chronicle,  "of  a  great  bell 
hung  in  the  canopy  of  the  skies."  At  last 
one  day,  when  he  was  walking  in  a  much  en- 
feebled state,  he  felt  on  a  sudden  an  extreme 
weakness,  like  that  caused  by  dire  starvation, 
and  unable  to  stand  any  longer  he  fell  to  the 
ground.  Some  thought  he  was  dead,  but  he 
recovered,  and  from  that  time  took  regular 


130  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  8.06.3-543 

food  and  gave  up  his  severe  penance,  so  much 
cipWl'eaveSo  that  his  five  disciples  soon  ceased  to  re- 
spect  him,  and,  leaving  him,  went  to  Benares. 
Soon  after,  if  not  on  the  very  day  when  his 
followers  had  left  him,  he  wandered  out  to- 
ward the  banks  of  the  Nairanjara,  receiving 
his  morning  meal  from  the  hands  of  Sujata, 
the  daughter  of  a  neighboring  villager,  and 
set  himself  down  to  eat  it  under  the  shade  of 
a  large  tree  (Ficus  religiosa),  to  be  known 
from  that  time  as  the  sacred  Bo  tree,  or  tree 
of  wisdom.  There  he  remained  through  the 
long  hours  of  that  day  debating  with  himself 
The  sacred  what  ncxt  to  do.  All  his  old  temptations  came 
back  upon  him  with  renewed  force.  All  that 
night  he  is  said  to  have  remained  in  deep 
meditation  under  the  Bo  tree,  and  the  ortho- 
dox Buddhists  believe  that  for  seven  times 
seven  nights  and  days  he  continued  fasting 
near  the  spot,  when  the  archangel  Brahma 
came  and  ministered  to  him.  As  for  himself, 
his  heart  was  now  fixed — his  mind  was  made 
up — but  he  realized  more  than  he  had  ever 
done  before  the  power  of  temptation,  and  the 
difficulty,  the  almost  impossibility,  of  under- 
standing and  holding  to  the  truth.  It  is  quite 
consistent  with  his  whole  career  that  it  was 
love  and  pity  for  humanity — otherwise,  as  it 
seemed  to  him,  helplessly  doomed  and  lost — 
which  at  last  overcame  every  other  consider- 
ation, and  made  Gautama  resolve  to  announce 
his  doctrine  to  the  world. 


B.C.  623-543  GAUTAMA    BUDDHA  131 

Gautama  had  intended  to  proclaim  his  new 
gospel  first  to  his  old  teachers,  Alara  and  Ud- 
raka,  but  finding  that  they  were  dead,  he  de- 
termined to  address  himself  to  his  former  five 
disciples,  and  accordingly  went  to  the  Deer- his  d?s^-^ 
forest  near  Benares,  where  they  were  then 
living.  Seeing  him  coming,  they  resolved  not 
to  recognize  as  a  superior  one  who  had  broken 
his  vows;  to  address  him  by  his  name  and  not 
as  "master,"  or  "teacher,"  only,  he  being  a 
Kshatriya,  to  ofifer  him  a  seat.  He  under- 
stands their  change  of  manner,  calmly  tells 
them  not  to  mock  him  by  calling  him  "the 
venerable  Gautama";  that  they  are  still  in  the 
way  of  death,  where  they  must  reap  sorrow 
and  disappointment,  whereas  he  has  found 
the  way  to  salvation  and  can  lead  them  to  it. 
They  object,  naturally  enough  from  a  Hindu 
point  of  view,  that  he  had  failed  before  while 
he  was  keeping  his  body  under,  and  how  can 
his  mind  have  won  the  victory  now,  when  he 
serves  and  yields  to  his  body?  Buddha  replies 
by  explaining  to  them  the  principles  of  his 
new  gospel. 

Everything  corporeal  is  material  and  there- Tf^gg^j. 
fore  impermanent,  for  it  contains  within  itself  '^'"''"^"^^^• 
the  germs  of  dissolution.  So  long  as  man  is 
bound  up  by  bodily  existence  with  the  ma- 
terial world  he  is  liable  to  sorrow,  decay  and 
death.  So  long  as  he  allows  unholy  desires  to 
reign  within  him,  there  will  be  unsatisfied 
longings,  useless  weariness,  and  care.    To  at- 


132  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  623-543 


tempt  to  purify  himself  by  oppressing  his 
body  would  be  only  wasted  effort ;  it  is  the 
moral  evil  of  a  man's  heart  which  keeps  him 
chained  down  in  the  degraded  state  of  bodily 
life — of  union  with  the  material  world. 
It  is  of  little  avail  to  add  virtue  to  his 
badness,  for  so  long  as  there  is  evil,  his 
goodness  will  only  insnare  him  for  a  time, 
and  in  another  birth,  a  higher  form  of  ma- 
terial life;  only  the  complete  eradication 
of  all  evil  will  set  him  free  from  the  chains 
of  existence,  and  carry  him  to  the  "other 
side,"  where  he  will  be  no  longer  tossed  about 
on  the  waves  of  the  ocean  of  transmigration. 
But  Christian  ideas  must  not  be  put  into  these 
Buddhist  expressions.  Of  any  immaterial  ex- 
istence. Buddhism  knows  nothing.  The  foun- 
dations of  its  creed  have  been  summed  up  in 
the  very  ancient  formula,  probably  invented 
by  its  founder,  which  is  called  the  Four  great 
Truths.  These  are — i.  That  misery  always 
frmhs.  accompanies  existence;  2.  That  all  modes  of 
existence  (of  men  or  animals,  in  earth  and 
heaven)  result  from  passion  or  desire  (tanha)  ; 
3.  That  there  is  no  escape  from  existence  ex- 
cept by  destruction  of  desire ;  4.  That  this  may 
be  accomplished  by  following  the  fourfold 
way  to  Nirvana.  Of  these  four  stages,  called 
the  Paths,  the  first  is  an  awakening  of  the 
heart. 

When  we  remember  the  relation  which  the 
five  students  mentioned  above  had  long  borne 


The  Four 


B.C.  623-543  GAUTAMA    BUDDHA  '    133 

to  him,  and  that  they  already  believed  those 
parts  of  his  doctrine  that  are  most  repugnant 
to  our  modern  feelings — the  pessimist  view  of 
life  and  the  transmigration  of  souls — it  is  not 
difficult  to  understand  that  his  persuasions 
were  successful,  and  that  his  old  disciples 
were  the  first  to  acknowledge  him  in  his  new 
character.  The  later  books  say  that  they  were 
all  converted  at  once;  but  according  to  the 
most  ancient  Pali  record — though  their  old 
love  and  reverence  had  been  so  rekindled 
when  Gautama  came  near  that  their  cold  reso- 
lutions quite  broke  down,  and  they  vied  with 
one  another  in  such  acts  of  personal  attention 

His  dis- 

as  an  Indian  disciple  loves  to  pay  his  teacher  ^ipies^are^ 
— yet  it  was  only  after  the  Buddha  had  for 
five  days  talked  to  them,  sometimes  sepa- 
rately, sometimes  together,  that  they  accepted 
in  its  entirety  his  plan  of  salvation.  Gautama 
then  remained  at  the  Deer-forest  near  Benares 
until  the  number  of  his  personal  followers 
was  about  threescore,  and  that  of  the  outside 
believers  somewhat  greater. 

For  forty-five  years  after  entering  on  his 
mission  Gautama  itinerated  in  the  valley  of 
the  Ganges,  not  going  further  than  about  150 
miles  from  Benares,  and  always  spending  the 
rainy  months  at  one  spot — usually  at  one  of 
the  viharas  or  homes  which  had  been  given  to 
the  society.  In  the  twentieth  year,  his  cousin 
Ananda  became  a  mendicant,  and  from  that 
time   seems   to   have   attended   on   Gautama, 


184  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  8.0.623-543 

being  constantly  near  him,  and  delighting  to 
render  him  all  the  personal  service  which  love 
and  reverence  could  suggest. 

It  will  seem  strange  to  many  that  a  religion 
which  ignores  the  existence  of  God  and  de- 
nies the  existence  of  the  soul  should  be  the 
very  religion  which  has  found  most  acceptance 
among  men,  and  it  is  easy  to  maintain  that 
Buddha  merely  taught  philosophy,  or  had  he 
lived  in  later  ages,  he  might  have  had  as 
small  a  following  as  Comte.  Gautama's 
i^flulnte  po^^^^  over  the  people  arose  in  a  great  degree 
from  the  glow  of  his  practical  philanthropy, 
which  did  not  shrink  in  the  struggle  against 
the  abuses  most  peculiar  to  his  time;  his  phi- 
losophy and  his  ethics  attracted  the  masses, 
from  whose  chained  hands  they  struck  off  the 
manacles  of  caste,  and  in  leaving  the  school 
for  the  world  they  insensibly  became  a  re- 
ligion. But  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that 
Gautama  was,  either  at  the  beginning  or  the 
end  of  his  career,  the  founder  of  a  new  re- 
ligion. He  seems  to  have  hoped  that  the  new 
wine  would  go  into  the  old  bottles,  and  that 
all  men,  not  excepting  even  the  Brahmans, 
would  gradually  adopt  his,  the  only  ortho- 
dox, form  of  the  ancient  creed. 

[Syracuse  was  founded  by  the  Corinthians 
in  734,  and  the  Messenian  wars  lasted  from 
743  to  628.  In  708,  Tarentum  was  founded 
by  the  Spartans.      Draco's  laws,  "written  in 


B.C.  734-597  GAUTAMA    BUDDHA  135 

blood,"  were  written  about  624,  and  Cylon's 
unsuccessful  insurrection  in  Athens  occurred 
in  612.  Solon  then  gained  great  influence  in 
Athens,   and   the   First  Sacred  War   against  sacred 

'  ^  War. 

Crisa  and  Cirrha  lasted  from  600  to  590. 
Solon  established  his  constitution  and  laws  in 

597-] 


T 


LAWS    OF    SOLON 

(B.C.  597) 

PLUTARCH 

HOUGH  Solon  rejected  absolute  power, 

he  proceeded  with  spirit  enough  in  the 

administration;  he  did  not  make  any 

concessions  in  behalf  of  the  powerful,  nor,  in 

the  framing  of  his  laws,  did  he  indulge  the 

Modeof     humor  of  his  constituents.      He  only  made 

procedure.  _  -' 

such  alterations  as  he  might  bring  the  people 
to  acquiesce  in  by  persuasion,  or  compel  them 
to  by  his  authority,  making  (as  he  says)  force 
and  right  conspire.  Hence  it  was,  that  hav- 
ing the  question  afterward  put  to  him, 
Whether  he  had  provided  the  best  of  laws 
for  the  Athenians,  he  answered.  The  best  they 
were  capable  of  receiving.  Solon  seems  to  be 
the  first  that  distinguished  the  cancelling  of 
debts  by  the  name  of  a  discharge.  For  this 
was  the  first  of  his  public  acts,  that  debts 
should  be  forgiven,  and  that  no  man,  for  the 
future,  should  take  the  body  of  his  debtor  for 
security. 

The  greater  part  of  writers,  however,  affirm 
that  it  was  the  abolition  of  past  securities  that 
was  called  a  discharge,  and  with  these  the 

(136) 


B,c.597  LAWS    OF    SOLON  137 

poems  of  Solon  agree.  For  in*  them  he  values 
himself  on  having  taken  away  the  marks  of 
mortgaged  land,  which  before  were  almost 
everywhere  set  up,  and  made  free  those  fields 
which  before  were  bound :  and  not  only  so,  but 
of  such  citizens  as  were  seizable  by  their  cred- 
itors for  debt,  some,  he  tells  us,  he  had  brought 
back  from  other  countries,  where  they  had 
wandered  so  long  that  they  had  forgot  the  At- 
tic dialect,  and  others  he  had  set  at  liberty, 
who  had  experienced  a  cruel  slavery  at  home. 
This  affair,  indeed,  brought  upon  him  the 
greatest  trouble  he  met  with;  for  when  he  un- 
dertook the  annulling  of  debts,  and  was  con-  ^.  ^ 

'^  '  Discharge 

sidering  of  a  suitable  speech  and  a  proper  °''i«''^s. 
method  of  introducing  the  business,  he  told 
some  of  his  most  intimate  friends,  namely, 
Conon,  Clinias,  and  Hipponicus,  that  he  in- 
tended only  to  abolish  the  debts,  and  not  to 
meddle  with  the  lands.  These  friends  of  his 
hastening  to  make  their  advantage  of  the  se- 
cret, before  the  decree  took  place,  borrowed 
large  sums  of  the  rich,  and  purchased  estates 
with  them.  Afterward,  when  the  decree  was 
published,  they  kept  their  possessions  without 
paying  the  money  they  had  taken  up;  which 
brought  great  reflections  upon  Solon,  as  if  he 
had  not  been  imposed  upon  with  the  rest,  but 
were  rather  an  accomplice  in  the  fraud.  This 
charge,  however,  was  soon  removed,  by  his  be- 
ing the  first  to  comply  with  the  law,  and  re- 
mitting a  debt  of  five  talents,  which  he  had  out 


1^8  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  597 


at  interest.  But  his  friends  went  by  the  name 
of  Chreocopiae,  or  debt-cutters,  ever  after. 

The  method  he  took  satisfied  neither  the 
poor  nor  the  rich.  The  latter  were  displeased 
by  the  cancelling  of  their  bonds;  and  the  for- 
mer at  not  finding  a  division  of  lands;  upon 
this  they  had  fixed  their  hopes,  and  they  com- 
plained that  he  had  not,  like  Lycurgus,  made 
all  the  citizens  equal  in  estate.  But  being  soon 
sensible  of  the  utility  of  the  decree,  they  laid 
Solon  made  aside  thcir  complaints,  offered  a  public  sacri- 

lawgiver.        _,  i-ii  nio*  i       • 

fice,  which  they  called  beisactheia,  or  the  sac- 
rifice of  the  discharge,  and  constituted  Solon 
lawgiver  and  superintendent  of  the  common- 
wealth;  committing  to  him  the  regulation  not 
of  a  part  only,  but  the  whole,  magistracies,  as- 
semblies, courts  of  judicature,  and  senate;  and 
leaving  him  to  determine  the  qualification, 
number,  and  time  of  meeting  for  them  all,  as 
well  as  to  abrogate  or  continue  the  former  con- 
stitutions, at  his  pleasure. 

First,  then,  he  repealed  the  laws  of  Draco, 
Repeal  of    exccDt  thosc  conccminp:  murder,  because  of 

iheDra-  ,  •  ,     ,  •    ,  ,  .  , 

«.nian  thc  scvcrity  of  the  punishments  they  appointed, 
which  for  almost  all  offences  were  capital; 
even  those  that  were  convicted  of  idleness  were 
to  sufifer  death,  and  such  as  stole  only  a  few  ap- 
ples or  pot-herbs  were  to  be  punished  in  the 
same  manner  as  sacrilegious  persons  and  mur- 
derers. Hence  a  saying  of  Demades,  who 
lived  long  after,  was  much  admired,  that 
Draco  wrote  his  laws  not  with  ink  but  with 


B.C.  597  LAWS    OF    SOLON  139 

blood.  And  he  himself  being  asked,  Why  he 
made  death  the  punishment  for  most  ofifences, 
answered,  Small  ones  deserve  it,  and  I  can  find 
no  greater  for  the  most  heinous. 

In  the  next  place,  Solon  took  an  estimate  of    , 

^  '  Solon  estl- 

the  estates  of  the  citizens;  intending  to  leave ^^^^«^'^f 
the  great  offices  in  the  hands  of  the  rich,  but^*'*""' 
to  give  the  rest  of  the  people  a  share  in  other 
departments  which  they  had  not  before.  Such 
as  had  a  yearly  income  of  five  hundred  meas- 
ures in  wet  and  dry  goods,  he  placed  in  the 
first  rank,  and  called  them  Pentacosiome- 
dimni.  The  second  consisted  of  those  that 
could  keep  a  horse,  or  whose  lands  produced 
three  hundred  measures;  these  were  of  the 
equestrian  order,  and  called  Hippodatelountes. 
And  those  of  the  third  class,  who  had  but  two 
hundred  measures,  were  called  Zeugitae.  The 
rest  were  named  Thetes,  and  not  admitted  to  Divides  the 
any  office :  they  had  only  a  right  to  appear  and  cussel'"^" 
give  their  vote  in  the  general  assembly  of  the 
people.  This  seemed  at  first  but  a  slight  priv- 
ilege, but  afterward  showed  itself  a  matter  of 
great  importance:  for  most  causes  came  at  last 
to  be  decided  by  them;  and  in  such  matters  as 
were  under  the  cognizance  of  the  magistrates 
there  lay  an  appeal  to  the  people.  Besides, 
he  is  said  to  have  drawn  up  hjs  laws  in  an  ob- 
scure and  ambiguous  manner,  on  purpose  to 
enlarge  the  authority  of  the  popular  tribunal. 
For  as  they  could  not  adjust  their  differences 
by  the  letter  of  the  law,  they  were  obliged  to 


140  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  597 


have  recourse  to  living  judges;  I  mean  the 
whole  body  of  citizens,  who  therefore  had  all 
controversies  brought  before  them,  and  were 
in  a  manner  superior  to  the  laws.  Desirous 
yet  further  to  strengthen  the  common  people, 

Strength-      "f  i  ,  f        ^      ^ 

ens  the      he  empoweTcd  any  man  whatever  to  enter  an 

common  »  -' 

people.  action  for  one  that  was  injured.  If  a  person 
was  assaulted,  or  suffered  damage  or  violence, 
another  that  was  able  and  willing  to  do  it 
might  prosecute  the  offender.  Thus  the  law- 
giver wisely  accustomed  the  citizens,  as  mem- 
bers of  one  body,  to  feel  and  to  resent  one  an- 
other's injuries.  And  we  are  told  of  a  saying  of 
his  agreeable  to  this  law:  being  asked,  What 
city  was  best  modelled?  he  answered.  That 
where  those  who  are  not  injured  are  no  less 
ready  to  prosecute  and  punish  offenders  than 
those  who  are. 

When  these  points  were  adjusted,  he  estab- 

The  lished  the  council  of  the  areopagus,  which  was 
to  consist  of  such  as  had  borne  the  office  of 
archon,  and  himself  was  one  of  the  number. 
But  observing  that  the  people,  now  discharged 
from  their  debts,  grew  insolent  and  imperi- 
ous, he  proceeded  to  constitute  another  council 
or  senate,  of  four  hundred,  a  hundred  out  of 
each  tribe,  by  whom  all  affairs  were  to  be  pre- 
viously considered;  and  ordered  that  no  mat- 
ter, without  their  approbation,  should  be  laid 
before  the  general  assembly.  In  the  mean- 
time the  high  court  of  the  areopagus  were  to 
be  the  inspectors  and  guardians  of  the  laws. 


areopagus. 


B.C.597  LAWS    OF    SOLON  141 

Thus  he  supposed  the  commonwealth,  secured 
by  two  councils  as  by  two  anchors,  would  be 
less  liable  to  be  shaken  by  tumults,  and  the 
people  would  become  more  orderly  and  peace- 
able. 

The  most  peculiar  and  surprising  of  his 
other  laws,  is  that  which  declares  the  man  Laws  to 
infamous  who  stands  neuter  in  the  time  of  difference"." 
sedition.  It  seems  he  would  not  have  us  be 
indifferent  and  unaffected  with  the  fate  of  the 
public,  when  our  own  concerns  are  upon  a  safe 
bottom;  nor  when  we  are  in  health,  be  insen- 
sible to  the  distempers  and  griefs  of  our  coun- 
try. He  would  have  us  espouse  the  better  and 
juster  cause,  and  hazard  everything  in  defence 
of  it,  rather  than  wait  in  safety  to  see  which 
side  the  victory  will  incline  to.  That  law, 
too,  seems  quite  ridiculous  and  absurd,  which 
permits  a  young  heiress,  whose  husband  hap- 
pens to  be  impotent,  to  console  herself  with  his 
nearest  relations.  Yet  some  say,  this  law  was 
properly  levelled  against  those  who,  conscious 
of  their  own  inability,  match  with  heiresses 
for  the  sake  of  the  portion,  and  under  color  of 
law  do  violence  to  nature. 

In  all  other  marriages,  he  ordered  that  no 
dowries  should  be  given ;  the  bride  was  to  'aws. 
bring  with  her  only  three  suits  of  clothes,  and 
some  household  stuff  of  small  value.  For  he 
did  not  choose  that  marriages  should  be  made 
with  mercenary  or  venal  views,  but  would 
have  that  union  cemented  by  the  endearment 


142  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  597 


of  children,  and  every  other  instance  of  love 
and  friendship.  And  if  he  found  a  young 
man  in  the  house  of  a  rich  old  woman,  like  a 
partridge,  growing  fat  in  his  private  services, 
he  would  remove  him  to  some  young  virgin 
who  wanted  a  husband.  But  enough  of  this. 
That  law  of  Solon's  is  also  justly  com- 
mended which  forbids  men  to  speak  ill  of  the 
e^vii  speak-  dcad.  Hc  forbadc  his  people  also  to  revile 
the  living,  in  a  temple,  in  a  court  of  justice, 
in  the  great  assembly  of  the  people,  or  at  the 
public  games.  He  that  offended  in  this  re- 
spect, was  to  pay  three  drachmas  to  the  per- 
sons injured,  and  two  to  the  public. 

His  law  concerning  wills  has  likewise  its 
Concerning  Hicrit.  For  bcforc  his  time  the  Athenians 
wills,  etc.  ^gj.g  ^Q|.  allowed  to  dispose  of  their  estates  by 
will ;  the  houses  and  other  substance  of  the  de- 
ceased were  to  remain  among  his  relations. 
But  he  permitted  any  one  that  had  not  chil- 
dren, to  leave  his  possessions  to  whom  he 
pleased;  thus  preferring  the  tie  of  friendship 
to  that  of  kindred,  and  choice  to  necessity,  he 
gave  every  man  the  full  and  free  disposal  of 
his  own.  Yet  he  allowed  not  all  sorts  of  lega- 
cies, but  those  only  that  were  not  extorted  by 
frenzy,  the  consequence  of  disease  or  poisons, 
by  imprisonment  or  violence,  or  the  persua- 
sions of  a  wife. 

He  regulated,  moreover,  the  journeys  of 
women,  their  mourning  and  sacrifices,  and  en- 
deavored to  keep  them  clear  of  all  disorder 


B.c  597  LAWS    OF    SOLON  143 

and  excess.  They  were  not  to  go  out  of  town 
with  more  than  three  habits;  the  provisions 
they  carried  with  them  were  not  to  exceed  the^^^^,^ 
value  of  an  obolus;  their  basket  was  not  to  be  women.' 
above  a  cubit  high;  and  in  the  night  they  were 
not  to  travel  but  in  a  carriage,  with  a  torch 
before  them.  At  funerals  they  were  forbid  to 
tear  themselves,  and  no  hired  mourner  was 
to  utter  lamentable  notes,  or  to  act  anything 
else  that  tended  to  excite  sorrow.  They  were 
not  permitted  to  sacrifice  an  ox  on  those  oc- 
casions; or  to  bury  more  than  three  garments 
with  the  body,  or  to  visit  any  tombs  besides 
those  of  their  own  family,  except  at  the  time 
of  interment. 

As  the  city  was  filled  with  persons  who  as- 
sembled from  all  parts,  on  account  of  the  great 
security  in  which  people  lived  in  Attica,  Solon 
observing  this,  and  that  the  country  withal  was 
poor  and  barren,   and   that  merchants,  whoForencour- 

/v»       1  aging 

traffic  by  sea,  do  not  use  to  import  their  goods  ^'■*<^«- 
where  they  can  have  nothing  in  exchange, 
turned  the  attention  of  the  citizens  to  manu- 
factures. For  this  purpose  he  made  a  law, 
that  no  son  should  be  obliged  to  maintain 
his  father,  if  he  had  not  taught  him  a  trade. 
But  that  law  was  more  rigid  which  (as  He- 
raclides  of  Pontus  informs  us)  excused  bas- 
tards from  relieving  their  fathers.  To  the 
victor  in  the  Isthmean  games,  he  appointed 
a  reward  of  a  hundred  drachmas;  and  to  the 
victor  in  the  Olympian,  five  hundred.      He 


144  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  597 

that  caught  a  he-wolf  was  to  have  five  drach- 
mas; he  that  took  a  she-wolf,  one:  and  the  for- 
mer sum  (as  Demetrius  Phalereus  asserts)  was 
the  value  of  an  ox,  the  latter  of  a  sheep. 
Though  the  prices  which  he  fixes  in  his  six- 
teenth table  for  select  victims  were  probably 
much  higher  than  the  common,  yet  they  are 
small  in  comparison  with  the  present. 

As  Attica  was  not  supplied  with  water  from 

perennial  rivers,  lakes,  or  springs,  but  chiefly 

Public       by  wells  dug  for  that  purpose,  he  made  a  law, 

Ranting  of  that  whcrc  there  was  a  public  well,  all  within 

trees.  *  ' 

the  distance  of  four  furlongs,  should  make  use 
of  it;  but  where  the  distance  was  greater,  they 
were  to  provide  a  well  of  their  own.  And  if 
they  dug  ten  fathoms  deep  in  their  own 
ground,  and  could  find  no  water,  they  had  lib- 
erty to  fill  a  vessel  of  six  gallons  twice  a  day 
at  their  neighbor's.  Thus  he  thought  it  proper 
to  assist  persons  in  real  necessity,  but  not  to  en- 
courage idleness.  His  regulations  with  re- 
spect to  the  planting  of  trees  were  also  very 
judicious.  He  that  planted  any  tree  in  his 
field  was  to  place  it  at  least  five  feet  from  his 
neighbor's  ground;  and  if  it  were  a  fig  tree  or 
an  olive,  nine;  for  these  extend  their  roots 
further  than  others,  and  their  neighborhood 
is  prejudicial  to  some  trees,  not  only  as  they 
take  away  the  nourishment,  but  as  their  effluvia 
is  noxious.  He  that  would  dig  a  pit  or  a 
ditch  was  to  dig  it  as  far  from  another  man's 
ground,  as  it  was  deep;  and  if  any  one  would 


As  to  oil. 


B.C.597  LAWS    OF    SOLON  145 

raise  stocks  of  bees,  he  was  to  place  them  about 
three  hundred  feet  from  those  already  raised 
by  another. 

Of  all  the  products  of  the  earth,  he  allowed 
none  to  be  sold  to  strangers,  but  oil :  and  who- 
ever presumed  to  export  anything  else,  the 
archon  was  solemnly  to  declare  him  accursed, 
or  to  pay  himself  a  hundred  drachmas  into  the 
public  treasury.     This  law  is  in  the  first  table. 

He  likewise  enacted  a  law  for  reparation  of 
damage  received  from  beasts.    A  dog  that  had  Damage 

from  beasts. 

bit  a  man  was  to  be  delivered  up  bound  to  a 
log  four  cubits  long;  an  agreeable  contriv- 
ance for  security  against  such  an  animal. 

But  the  wisdom  of  the  law  concerning  the 
naturalizing  of  foreigners  is  a  little  dubious ;  Sl!"'^"^^' 
because  it  forbids  the  freedom  of  the  city  to  be 
granted  to  any  but  such  as  are  forever  exiled 
from  their  own  country,  or  transplant  them- 
selves to  Athens  with  their  own  family,  for  the 
sake  of  exercising  some  manual  trade. 

That  law  is  peculiar  to  Solon,  which  regu- 
lates the  going  to  entertainments  made  at  theSlenam- 
public  charge,  by  him  called  Parasitien.  For""^"'^" 
he  does  not  allow  the  same  person  to  repair  to 
them  often,  and  he  lays  a  penalty  upon  such 
as  refused  to  go  when  invited;  looking  upon 
the  former  as  a  mark  of  epicurism,  and  the 
latter  of  contempt  of  the  public. 

All  his  laws  were  to  continue  in  force  for  a ,  , 

In  force  for 

hundred  years,  and  were  written  upon  wooden  yea';!".*^'''''* 
tables  which  might  be  turned  round  in  the  ob- 

7  *  Vol.  1 


Regulates 
the  calen- 
dar. 


146  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  597 

long  cases  that  contained  them.     Some  small 
Senate es-   Fcmains  of  them  are  preserved  in  the  Pryta- 

Ublishthc  ,    •  ,  rU,  o  •  I        i 

'*'"•  neum  to  this  day.  1  he  benate,  in  a  body, 
bound  themselves  by  oath  to  establish  the  laws 
of  Solon;  and  the  Thesmothetae,  or  guardians 
of  the  laws,  severally  took  an  oath  in  a  par- 
ticular form,  by  the  stone  in  the  market-place, 
that  for  every  law  they  broke,  each  would 
dedicate  a  golden  statue  at  Delphi  of  the  same 
weight  with  himself. 

Observing  the  irregularity  of  the  months, 
and  that  the  moon  neither  rose  nor  set  at  the 
same  time  with  the  sun,  as  it  often  happened 
that  in  the  same  day  she  overtook  and  passed 
by  him,  he  ordered  that  day  to  be  called  Hene 
kai  nea  (the  old  and  the  new)  ;  assigning  the 
part  of  it  before  the  conjunction  to  the  old 
month,  and  the  rest  to  the  beginning  of  the 
new. 

When  his  laws  took  place,  Solon  had  his 

Difficulty    visitors  every  day,  finding:  fault  with  some  of 

of  explana-  J  J  J  to  ,     .    . 

"«'»■  them,  and  commending  others,  or  advising 
him  to  make  certain  additions,  or  retrench- 
ments. But  the  greater  part  came  to  desire 
a  reason  for  this  or  that  article,  or  a  clear  and 
precise  explication  of  the  meaning  and  design. 
Sensible  that  he  could  not  well  excuse  himself 
from  complying  with  their  desires,  and  that 
if  he  indulged  their  importunity,  the  doing  it 
might  give  ofifence,  he  determined  to  with- 
draw from  the  difficulty,  and  to  get  rid  at  once 
of  their  cavils  and  exceptions.     Under  the  pre- 


B.C.597  LAWS    OF    SOLON  147 

tence,  therefore,  of  traffic  he  set  sail  for  an- 
other country,  having  obtained  leave  of  the  i^ves 
Athenians  for  ten  years'  absence.    In  that  time 
he  hoped  his  laws  would  become  familiar  to 
them. 

[After  a  thirteen  years'  siege,  586-573,  by 
Nebuchadnezzar,  Tyre  acknowledges  the  su- 
premacy of  Babylon.  In  586,  Nebuchadnez- 
zar captures  Jerusalem  also.] 


THE    FALL   OF   TYRE   AND   THE    SIEGE   OF 
JERUSALEM 

(B.C.  586) 


T 


G.   MASPERO 

HE  wealth  which  accrued  to  the  Tyr- 
ians  from  their  naval  expeditions  had 
rendered  the  superiority  of  Tyre  over 
the  neighboring  cities  so  manifest  that  they 
had  nearly  all  become  her  vassals.      Arvad 

Importance  -^ 

SfTyrT'^''  and  Northern  Phenicia  were  still  mdepen- 
dent,  as  also  the  sacred  city  of  Byblos,  but  the 
entire  coast  from  the  Nahr-el-Kelb  to  the 
headland,  formed  by  Mount  Carmel,  was  di- 
rectly subject  to  Tyre,  comprising  the  two 
Sidons,  Bit-zit,  and  Sarepta,  the  country  from 
Mahalliba  to  the  fords  of  the  Litany,  Ushu 
and  its  hinterland  as  far  as  Kana,  Akzib, 
Akko,  and  Dora;  and  this  compact  territory, 
partly  protected  by  the  range  of  Lebanon,  and 
secured  by  the  habitual  prudence  of  its  rulers 
from  the  invasions  whici)  had  desolated  Syria, 
formed  the  most  flourishing,  and  perhaps  also 
the  most  populous,  kingdom  which  still  ex- 
isted between  the  Euphrates  and  the  Egyptian 
desert. 

Tyre  and  Jerusalem  had  hitherto  formed 

(148i 


B.C.  586  THE    FALL    OP    TYRE  U9 

the  extreme  outwork  of  the  Syrian  states ;  they 
were  the  only  remaining  barrier  which  sepa- 
rated the  empires  of  Egypt  and  Assyria,  and 
it  was  to  the  interest  of  the  Pharaoh  to  pur- 
chase their  alliance  and  increase  their  strength 
by  every  means  in  his  power.  Negotiations 
must  have  been  going  on  for  some  time  be- 
tween the  three  powers,  but  up  to  the  time  of 
the  death  of  Sargon  and  the  return  of  Mero- 
dach-baladan  to  Babylon  their  results  had 
been  unimportant,  and  it  was  possible  that  the 
disasters  which  had  befallen  the  Kalda  would 
tend  to  cool  the  ardor  of  the  allies.  An  unfore- 
seen circumstance  opportunely  rekindled  their 
zeal,  and  determined  them  to  try  their  fortune. 
The  inhabitants  of  Ekron,  dissatisfied  with 
Padi,  the  chief  whom  the  Assyrians  had  set 
over  them,  seized  his  person  and  sent  him  in 
chains  to  Hezekiah.  To  accept  the  present 
was  equivalent  to  open  rebellion,  and  a  decla- 
ration of  war  against  the  power  of  the  suze- 
rain. Isaiah,  as  usual,  wished  Judah  to  relyisaiah-s 
on  Jahveh  alone,  and  preached  against  ^lU- ^°''^^'^*''' 
ance  with  the  Babylonians,  for  he  foresaw  that 
success  would  merely  result  in  substituting  the 
Kalda  for  the  Ninevite  monarch,  and  in  ag- 
gravating the  conditions  of  Judah.  Hezekiah 
agreed  to  accept  the  sovereignty  over  Ekron 
which  its  inhabitants  offered  to  him,  but  a 
remnant  of  prudence  kept  him  from  putting 
Padi  to  death,  and  he  contented  himself  with 
casting  him  into  prison.     Isaiah,  though  tern- 


150  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.sW 

porarily  out  of  favor  with  the  king,  ceased  not 
to  proclaim  aloud  in  all  quarters  the  will  of 
the  Almighty. 

No  one,  however,  gave  heed  to  his  warn- 
ings, either  king  or  people;  but  the  example 
of  Phenicia  soon  proved  that  he  was  right. 
When  Sennacherib  bestirred  himself  in  the 
spring  of  B.C.  702,  either  the  Ethiopians  were 
not  ready,  or  they  dared  not  advance  to  en- 
counter him  in  Ccele-Syria,  and  they  left 
Elulai*  to  get  out  of  his  difficulties  as  best  he 
might.  He  had  no  army  to  risk  in  a  pitched 
battle;  but  fondly  imagined  that  his  cities, 
long  since  fortified,  and  protected  on  the  east 
by  the  range  of  Lebanon,  would  offer  a  re- 
sistance sufficiently  stubborn  to  wear  out  the 
patience  of  his  assailant.  The  Assyrians,  how- 
ever, disconcerted  his  plans.  Instead  of  ad- 
vancing against  him  by  the  pass  of  Nahr-el- 

A^Vian  Kcbir,  according  to  their  usual  custom,  they 
attacked  him  in  flank,  descending  into  the  very 
midst  of  his  positions  by  the  col  of  Legnia  or 
one  of  the  neighboring  passes.  They  cap- 
tured in  succession  the  two  Sidons,  Bit-zit, 
Sarepta,  Mahalliba,  Ushu,  Akzib,  and  Akko: 
Elulai,  reduced  to  the  possession  of  the  island 
of  Tyre  alone,  retreated  to  one  of  his  colonies 

ihc^king^of  in  Cyprus,  where  he  died  some  years  later, 
without  having  set  foot  again  on  the  continent. 
All  his  former  possessions  on  the  mainland 

*  King  of  Tyre. 


o 
< 


B.C.  s86 


THE    FALL    OF    TYRE  151 


were  given  to  a  certain  Ethbaal,  who  chose 
Sidon  for  his  seat  of  government,  and  Tyre 
lost  by  this  one  skirmish  the  rank  of  metropolis 
which  she  had  enjoyed  for  centuries. 

Sennacherib  then  turned  against  Ekron,  and 
was  about  to  begin  the  siege  of  the  city,  when 
the  long-expected  Egyptians  at  length  made  Egypfu"/ 
their  appearance.  Shabitoku  did  not  com-^' 
mand  them  in  person,  but  he  had  sent  his  best 
troops — the  contingents  furnished  by  the  petty 
kings  of  the  Delta,  and  the  Sheikhs  of  the  Si- 
naitic  peninsula,  who  were  vassals  of  Egypt. 
The  encounter  took  place  near  Altaku,  and  on 
this  occasion,  again  as  at  Raphia,  the  scientific 
tactics  of  the  Assyrians  prevailed  over  the  ste- 
reotyped organization  of  Pharaoh's  army:  the 
Ethiopian  generals  left  some  of  their  chariots 
in  the  hands  of  the  conqueror,  and  retreated 
with  the  remnants  of  their  force  beyond  the 
Isthmus.  Altaku  capitulated,  an  example  fol- 
lowed by  the  neighboring  fortress  of  Timnath, 
and  subsequently  by  Ekron  itself,  all  three 
being  made  to  feel  Sennacherib's  vengeance. 
"The  nobles  and  chiefs  who  had  offended  I  ^"^'^ 

vengeance. 

slew,"  he  remarks,  "and  set  up  their  corpses 
on  stakes  in  a  circle  round  the  city;  those  of 
the  inhabitants  who  had  offended  and  com- 
mitted crimes,  I  took  them  prisoners,  and  for 
the  rest  who  had  neither  offended  nor  trans- 
gressed, I  pardoned  them." 

We  may  here  pause  to  inquire  how  Heze- 
kiah  was  occupied  while  his  fate  was  being 


152  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  D.c.586 

decided  on  the  field  of  Altaku.  He  was  forti- 
fying Jerusalem,  and  storing  within  it  muni- 
tions of  war,  and  enrolling  Jewish  soldiers 
and  mercenary  troops  from  the  Arab  tribes  of 
the  desert.      He  had  suddenly  become  aware 

prepara-  that  large  portions  of  the  wall  of  the  city  of 
David  had  crumbled  away,  and  he  set  about 
demolishing  the  neighboring  houses  to  obtain 
materials  for  repairing  these  breaches:  he  has- 
tily strengthened  the  weak  points  in  his  fortifi- 
cations, stopped  up  the  springs  which  flowed 
into  the  Gihon,  and  cut  off  the  brook  itself, 
constructing  a  reservoir  between  the  inner  and 
the  outer  city  walls  to  store  up  the  waters  of 
the  ancient  pool.  These  alterations  rendered 
the  city,  which  from  its  natural  position  was 
well  defended,  so  impregnable  that  Sennach- 
erib decided  not  to  attack  it  until  the  rest 
of  the  kingdom  had  been  subjugated:  with 
this  object  in  view  he  pitched  his  camp  before 
Lachish,  whence  he  could  keep  a  watch  over 
the  main  routes  from  Egypt,  where  they 
crossed  the   frontier,   and   then  scattered  his 

sennach-    forces  ovcr  the  land  of  Tudah,  delivering  it 

crib  -'  '  ° 

?udal"  ^P  ^^  pillage  in  a  systematic  manner.  He  took 
forty-six  walled  towns,  and  numberless  strong- 
holds and  villages,  demolishing  tHfe  walls  and 
leading  into  captivity  200,150  persons  of  all 
ages  and  conditions,  together  with  their  house- 
hold goods,  their  horses,  asses,  mules,  camels, 
oxen  and  sheep;  it  was  a  war  as  disastrous  in 
its  effects  as  that  which  terminated  in  the  fall 


B.C.S86  THE    SIEGE    OF    JERUSALEM  153 

of  Samaria,  or  which  led  to  the  final  captivity 
in  Babylon.  The  work  of  destruction  accom- 
plished, the  Rabshakeh  brought  up  all  his 
forces  and  threw  up  a  complete  circle  of  earth- 
works round  Jerusalem:  Hezekiah  found  him- 
self shut  up  in  his  capital  "like  a  bird  in  a 
cage." 

Meanwhile,  day  after  day  elapsed,  and 
Pharaoh  did  not  hasten  to  the  rescue.  Heze-  Hezekiah 
kiah's  eyes  were  opened ;  he  dismissed  Shebna,  p'^ci°'^ 
and  degraded  him  to  the  position  of  scribe, 
and  set  Eliakim  in  his  place  in  the  Council  of 
State.  Isaiah's  influence  revived,  and  he  per- 
suaded the  king  to  sue  for  peace  while  yet 
there  was  time. 

Sennacherib  was  encamped  at  Lachish;  but 
the  Tartan  and  his  two  lieutenants  received 
the  overtures  of  peace,  and  proposed  a  parley 
near  the  conduit  of  the  upper  pool,  in  the  high- 
way of  the  fuller's  field.  Hezekiah  did  not 
venture  to  go  in  person  to  the  meeting-place; 
he  sent  Eliakim,  the  new  prefect  of  the  pal- 
ace, Shebna,  and  the  chancellor  Joah,  the 
chief  cupbearer,  and  tradition  relates  that  the 
Assyrian  addressed  them  in  severe  terms  in 
his  master's  name:  "Now  on  whom  dost  thou 
trust,  that  thou  rebellest  against  me?  Be- 
hold, thou  trustest  upon  the  stafif  of  this  bruised  Isfynan 
reed,  even  upon  Egypt;  whereon  if  a  man  hfran^e. 
lean,  it  will  go  into  his  hand  and  pierce  it:  so 
is  Pharaoh,  King  of  Egypt,  to  all  that  trust  on 
him."     Then,  as  he  continued  to  declaim  in 


154 


THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  s86 


Sp>€; 
Het 


:aks  in 
ebrew. 


Terms  of 
peace. 


a  loud  voice,  so  that  the  crowds  gathered  on 
the  wall  could  hear  him,  the  delegates  be- 
sought him  to  speak  in  Aramaic,  which  they 
understood,  but  "speak  not  to  us  in  the  Jew's 
language,  in  the  ears  of  the  people  that  are 
on  the  wall!"  Instead,  however,  of  granting 
their  request,  the  Assyrian  general  advanced 
toward  the  spectators  and  addressed  them  in 
Hebrew:  "Hear  ye  the  words  of  the  great 
king,  the  King  of  Assyria.  Let  not  Heze- 
kiah  deceive  you;  for  he  shall  not  be  able  to 
deliver  you:  neither  let  Hezekiah  make  you 
trust  in  the  Lord,  saying,  The  Lord  will  surely 
deliver  us:  this  city  shall  not  be  given  into  the 
hand  of  the  King  of  Assyria,  Hearken  not  to 
Hezekiah:  for  thus  saith  the  King  of  Assyria, 
Make  your  peace  with  me,  and  come  out  with 
me ;  and  eat  ye  every  one  of  his  vine,  and  every 
one  of  his  fig-tree,  and  drink  ye  every  one  the 
waters  of  his  own  cistern:  until  I  come  and 
take  you  away  to  a  land  like  your  own  land,  a 
land  of  corn  and  wine,  a  land  of  bread  and 
vineyards.  Beware  lest  Hezekiah  persuade 
you,  saying.  The  Lord  will  deliver  usl"  The 
specified  conditions  were  less  hard  than  might 
have  been  feared.  The  Jewish  king  was  to 
give  up  his  wives  and  daughters  as  hostages, 
to  pledge  himself  to  pay  a  regular  tribute,  and 
disburse  immediately  a  ransom  of  thirty  tal- 
ents of  gold,  and  eight  hundred  talents  of  sil- 
ver: he  could  only  make  up  this  large  sum  by 
emptying  the  royal  and  sacred  treasuries,  and 


victorious 
advance. 


,.c.s86  THE    SIEGE    OF    JERUSALEM  155 

taking  down  the  plates  of  gold  with  which 
merely  a  short  while  before  he  had  adorned 
the  doors  and  lintels  of  the  temple.  Padi  was 
released  from  his  long  captivity,  reseatedon  his 
throne,  and  received  several  Jewish  towns  as 
an  indemnity;  other  portions  of  territory  were 
bestowed  upon  Mitinti  of  Ashdod  and  Zillibel 
of  Gaza  as  a  reward  for  their  loyalty.  Heze- 
kiah  issued  from  the  struggle  with  his  terri-^^^^^^ 
tory  curtailed  and  his  kingdom  devastated ;  the  l^^ 
last  obstacle  which  stood  in  the  way  of  the 
Assyrians'  victorious  advance  fell  with  him, 
and  Sennacherib  could  now  push  forward 
with  perfect  safety  toward  the  Nile.  He  had, 
indeed,  already  planned  an  attack  on  Egypt, 
and  had  reached  the  Isthmus,  when  a  myste- 
rious accident  arrested  his  further  progress. 
The  conflict  on  the  plains  of  Altaku  had  been 
severe;  and  the  army,  already  seriously  di- 
minished by  its  victory,  had  been  still  further 
weakened  during  the  campaign  in  Judea,  and 
possibly  the  excesses  indulged  in  by  the  sol- 
diery had  developed  in  them  the  germs  of  one 
of  those  terrible  epidemics  which  had  devas- 
tated Western  Asia  several  times  in  the  course 
of  the  century;  whatever  may  have  been  the 
cause,  half  the  army  was  destroyed  by  pesti- 
lence before  it  reached  the  frontier  of  the 
Delta,  and  Sennacherib  led  back  the  shattered 
remnants  of  his  force  to  Nineveh.     The  He-Hisretum 

bi .  ,  ,         .  •11  'o  Nineveh, 

rews  did  not  hesitate  to  ascribe  the  event  to 

the  vengeance  of  Jahveh,  and  to  make  it  a 


156 


THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  s86 


Senn.ich- 
crib  blas- 

y  hemes 
chovah. 


His  de- 
struction. 


subject  of   thankfulness.     They   related   that 
before    their    brutal    conqueror    quitted    the 
country  he  had  sent  a  parting  message  to  Heze- 
kiah:  *'Let  not  thy  God  in  whom  thou  trustest 
deceive  thee,  saying  Jerusalem  shall  not  be 
given  into  the  hand  of  the  King  of  Assyria. 
Behold,  thou  hast  heard  what  the  Kings  of  As- 
syria have  done  to  all  lands,  by  destroying 
them  utterly;   and  shalt  thou  be  delivered? 
Have  the  gods  of  the  nations  delivered  them 
which  my  fathers  have  destroyed,  Gozan  and 
Haran  and  Rezeph,  and  the  children  of  Eden 
which  were  in  Telassar?     Where  is  the  King 
of  Hamath,  and  the  King  of  Arpad,  and  the 
King  of  the  city  of  Sepharvaim,  of  Hena, 
and  Ivvah?"     Hezekiah,  having  received  this 
letter  of  defiance,  laid  it  in  the  temple  before 
Jahveh,  and  prostrated  himself  in  prayer:  the 
response  came  to  him  through  the  mouth  of 
Isaiah.     "Thus  saith  the  Lord  concerning  the 
King  of  Assyria,  He  shall  not  come  unto  this 
city,  nor  shoot  an  arrow  there,  neither  shall 
he  come  before  it  with  a  shield,  nor  cast  a 
mount  against  it.     By  the  way  that  he  came, 
by  the  same  shall  he  return,  and  he  shall  not 
come  unto  this  city,  saith  the  Lord.     For  I 
will  defend  this  city  to  save  it,  for  Mine  own 
sake  and  for  My  servant  David's  sake.     And 
it  came  to  pass  that  night,  that  the  angel  of  the 
Lord  went  forth,  and  smote  in  the  camp  of 
the  Assyrians  an  hundred  fourscore  and  five 
thousand:  and  when  the  men  arose  early  in 


B.C.586  THE    SIEGE    OF    JERUSALEM  157 

the    morning,    behold    they   were    all    dead 
corpses." 

The  Egyptians  considered  this  event  no  less 
miraculous  than  did  the  Hebrews,  and  one  of 
their  popular  tales  ascribed  the  prodigy  to 
Phtah,  the  god  of  Memphis.  Sethon,  the  high 
priest  of  Phtah,  lived  in  a  time  of  national  dis- 
tress, and  the  warrior  class,  whom  he  had  de- 
prived of  some  of  its  privileges,  refused  to 
take  up  arms  in  its  behalf.  He  repaired, 
therefore,  to  the  temple  to  implore  divine  as- 
sistance, and,  falling  asleep,  was  visited  by  a 
dream.  The  god  appeared  to  him,  and  prom-  E^puan 
ised  to  send  him  some  auxiliaries  who  should  ^^^"  " 
ensure  him  success.  He  enlisted  such  of  the 
Egyptians  as  were  willing  to  follow  him,  shop- 
keepers, fullers,  and  sutlers,  and  led  them  to 
Pelusium  to  resist  the  threatened  invasion. 
In  the  night  a  legion  of  field-mice  came  forth, 
whence  no  one  knew,  and,  noiselessly  spread- 
ing throughout  the  camp  of  the  Assyrians, 
gnawed  the  quivers,  the  bow-strings,  and  the 
straps  of  the  bucklers  in  such  a  way  that,  on 
the  morrow,  the  enemy,  finding  themselves 
disarmed,  fled  after  a  mere  pretence  at  re- 
sistance, and  suffered  severe  losses.  A  statue 
was  long  shown  in  the  temple  at  Memphis 
portraying  this  Sethon:  he  was  represented 
holding  a  mouse  in  his  hand,  and  the  inscrip- 
tion bade  men  reverence  the  god  who  had 
wrought  this  miracle. 

The  disaster  was  a  terrible  one:  Sennach- 


aster 


158  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c  sfc^- 

crib's  triumphant  advance  was  suddenly 
checked,  and  he  was  forced  to  return  to  Asia 
when  the  goal  of  his  ambition  was  almost 
reached.  The  loss  of  a  single  army,  however 
thfdi^°  much  to  be  deplored,  was  not  irreparable, 
since  Assyria  could  furnish  her  sovereign  with 
a  second  force  as  numerous  as  that  which  lay 
buried  in  the  desert  on  the  road  to  Egypt,  but 
it  was  uncertain  what  effect  the  news  of  the 
calamity  and  the  sight  of  the  survivors  might 
have  on  the  minds  of  his  subjects  and  rivals. 
The  latter  took  no  immediate  action,  and  the 
secret  joy  which  they  must  have  experienced 
did  not  blind  them  to  the  real  facts  of  the  case ; 
for,  though  the  power  of  Assyria  was  shaken, 
she  was  still  stronger  than  any  one  of  them  sev- 
erally, or  even  than  all  of  them  together,  and  to 
attack  her,  or  rebel  against  her  now,  was  to 
court  defeat  with  as  much  certainty  as  in  past 
days. 


CYRUS    FOUNDS    PERSIA 

(B.C.  558) 

GEORGE    RAWLINSON 

THE  residence  of  Cyrus  at  the  Median 
Court,  which  is  asserted  in  almost 
every  narrative  of  his  life  before  he 
became  king,  inexplicable  if  Persia  w^as  in- 
dependent, becomes  thoroughly  intelligible 
on  the  supposition  that  she  was  a  great  Median 
feudatory.  In  such  cases  the  residence  of 
the  Crown  Prince  at  the  capital  of  the  suze- 

.       .  Cyrus  at 

ram  is  constantly  desired,  or  even  required,  byg^^^^edian 
the  superior  power,  which  sees  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  son   and   heir  the   best  security 
against  disaffection  or  rebellion  on  the  part  of 
the  father. 

It  appears  that  Cyrus,  while  at  the  Median 
Court,  observing  the  unwarlike  temper  of  the 
existing  generation  of  Medes,  who  had  not 
seen  any  actual  service,  and  despising  the 
personal  character  of  the  monarch,  who  led 
a  luxurious  life,  chiefly  at  Ecbatana,  amid 
eunuchs,  concubines,  and  dancing-girls,  re- 
solved on  raising  the  standard  of  rebellion, 

(159) 


160  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  ».c.  558 

and  seeking  at  any  rate  to  free  his  own  coun- 
try. It  may  be  suspected  that  the  Persian 
prince  was  not  actuated  solely  by  political  mo- 
tives. To  earnest  Zoroastrians,  such  as  the 
Achemenians  are  shown  to  have  been  by  their 
inscriptions,  the  yoke  of  a  power  which  had 
so  greatly  corrupted,  if  it  had  not  wholly  laid 
aside,  the  worship  of  Ormazd,  must  have  been 

Reasons  for  1  •  <•  1      /^ 

ikfnof^'"  extremely  distasteful ;  and  Cyrus  may  have 
Cyrus.  wished  by  his  rebellion  as  much  to  vindicate 
the  honor  of  his  religion  as  to  obtain  a  loftier 
position  for  his  nation.  If  the  Magi  occu- 
pied really  the  position  at  the  Median  Court 
which  Herodotus  assigns  to  them — if  they 
"were  held  in  high  honor  by  the  king,  and 
shared  in  his  sovereignty" — if  the  priest-rid- 
den monarch  was  perpetually  dreaming  and 
perpetually  referring  his  dreams  to  the  Ma- 
gian  seers  for  exposition,  and  then  guiding  his 
actions  by  the  advice  they  tendered  him,  the 
religious  zeal  of  the  young  Zoroastrian  may 
very  naturally  have  been  aroused,  and  the  con- 
test into  which  he  plunged  may  have  been,  in 
his  eyes,  not  so  much  a  national  struggle  as  a 
crusade  against  the  infidels.  It  will  be  found 
hereafter  that  religious  fervor  animated  the 
Persians     Pcrsians  in  most  of  those  wars  by  which  they 

a  religious 

nation.  Spread  their  dominion.  We  may  suspect, 
therefore,  though  it  must  be  admitted  we  can 
not  prove,  that  a  religious  motive  was  among 
those  which  led  them  to  make  their  first  ef- 
forts after  independence. 


B.C.  558 


CYRUS    FOUNDS    PERSIA  161 


According  to  the  account  of  the  struggle 
which  is  most  circumstantial,  and  on  the 
whole  most  probable,  the  first  difficulty  which 
the  would-be  rebel  had  to  meet  and  vanquish 
was  that  of  quitting  the  Court.  Alleging  that 
his  father  was  in  weak  health,  and  required 
his  care,  he  requested  leave  of  absence  for  a 
short  time;  but  his  petition  was  refused  on 
the  flattering  ground  that  the  Great  King  was 
too  much  attached  to  him  to  lose  sight  of  him 
even  for  a  day.  A  second  application,  how- 
ever, made  through  a  favorite  eunuch  after 
a  certain  interval  of  time,  was  more  success- 
ful :  Cyrus  received  permission  to  absent  him- 

Cyrus 

self   from   Court  for  the  next  five  months:  Je^^es the 

Court. 

whereupon,  with  a  few  attendants,  he  left  Ec- 
batana  by  night,  and  took  the  road  leading  to 
his  native  country. 

The  next  evening  Astyages,  enjoying  him- 
self as  usual  over  his  wine,  surrounded  by  a 
crowd  of  his  concubines,  singing-girls,  and 
dancing-girls,  called  on  one  of  them  for  a 
song.  The  girl  took  her  lyre  and  sang  as  fol- 
lows:  "The   lion   had   the  wild  boar  in  his 

,  ,  ,    .  ,  ,    .  ,     .  .      Sang  of  the 

power,  but  let  him  depart  to  his  own  lair;  in  dancing- 
his  lair  he  will  wax  in  strength,  and  will 
cause  the  lion  a  world  of  toil;  till,  at  length, 
although  the  weaker,  he  will  overcome  the 
stronger."  The  words  of  the  song  greatly 
disquieted  the  king,  who  had  been  already 
made  aware  that  a  Chaldean  prophecy  desig- 
nated Cyrus  as  future  king  of  the  Persians. 


escapes. 


162  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  ..c.  558 

Repenting  of  the  indulgence  which  he  had 
granted  him,  Astyages  forthwith  summoned 
an  officer  into  his  presence,  and  ordered  him 
to  take  a  body  of  horsemen,  pursue  the  Per- 
sian prince,  and  bring  him  back,  either  alive 
or  dead.  The  officer  obeyed,  overtook  Cyrus, 
and  announced  his  errand;  upon  which  Cyrus 
expressed  his  perfect  willingness  to  return, 
but  proposed  that,  as  it  was  late,  they  should 
defer  their  start  till  the  next  day.  The  Medes 
consenting,  Cyrus  feasted  them,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  making  them  all  drunk;  then  mount- 
cynis  i"g  ^'is  horse,  he  rode  ofTf  at  full  speed  with 
his  attendants,  and  reached  a  Persian  outpost, 
where  he  had  arranged  with  his  father  that  he 
should  find  a  body  of  Persian  troops.  When 
the  Medes  had  slept  off  their  drunkenness,  and 
found  their  prisoner  gone,  they  pursued,  and 
again  overtaking  Cyrus,  who  was  now  at  the 
head  of  an  armed  force,  engaged  him.  They 
were,  however,  defeated  with  great  loss,  and 
forced  to  retreat,  while  Cyrus,  having  beaten 
them  ofif,  made  good  his  escape  into  Persia. 

When  Astyages  heard  what  had  happened, 
he  was  greatly  vexed;  and,  smiting  his  thigh, 
he  exclaimed:  "Ah!  fool,  thou  knewest  well 
that  it  boots  not  to  heap  favors  on  the  vile; 
yet  didst  thou  suffer  thyself  to  be  gulled  by 
smooth  words;  and  so  thou  hast  brought  upon 
thyself  this  mischief.  But  even  now  he  shall 
not  get  off  scotfree."  And  instantly  he  sent 
for  his  generals,  and  commanded  them  to  col- 


B.C.  558 


CYRUS    FOUNDS    PERSIA  163 


lect  his  host,  and  proceed  to  reduce  Persia 

to  obedience.     Three  thousand  chariots,  two  Pursuit  by 

'  Astyages. 

hundred  thousand  horse,  and  a  million  foot- 
men (1)  were  soon  brought  together;  and  with 
these  Astyages  in  person  invaded  the  revolted 
province,  and  engaged  the  army  which  Cyrus 
and  his  father,  Cambyses,  had  collected  for 
defence.  This  consisted  of  a  hundred  char- 
iots, fifty  thousand  horsemen,  and  three  hun- 
dred thousand  light-armed  foot,  who  were 
drawn  up  in  front  of  a  fortified  town  near  the 
frontier.  The  first  day's  battle  was  long  and 
bloody,  terminating  without  any  decisive  ad- 
vantage to  either  side;  but  on  the  second  day 
Astyages,  making  skilful  use  of  his  superior  v^ctory^^f 
numbers,  gained  a  great  victory.  Having  de- 
tached one  hundred  thousand  men  with  orders 
to  make  a  circuit  and  get  into  the  rear  of  the 
town,  he  renewed  the  attack;  and  when  the 
Persians  were  all  intent  on  the  battle  in  their 
front,  the  troops  detached  fell  on  the  city  and 
took  it,  almost  before  its  defenders  were  aware. 
Cambyses,  who  commanded  in  the  town,  was 
mortally  wounded,  and  fell  into  the  enemy's 
hands.  The  army  in  the  field,  finding  itself 
between  two  fires,  broke  and  fled  toward  the 
interior,  bent  on  defending  Pasargadae,  the 
capital.  Meanwhile  Astyages,  having  given 
Cambyses  honorable  burial,  pressed  on  in 
pursuit. 

The  country  had  now  become  rugged  and 
difficult.     Between  Pasargadae  and  the  place 


164  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  558 

where  the  two  days'  battle  was  fought,  lay  a 
barrier  of  lofty  hills,  only  penetrated  by  a 
Difficuiiics  single  narrow  pass.  On  either  side  were  two 
adval^c'l"  smooth  surfaces  of  rock,  while  the  mountain 
towered  above,  lofty  and  precipitous.  The 
pass  was  guarded  by  ten  thousand  Persians. 
Recognizing  the  impossibility  of  forcing  it, 
Astyages  again  detached  a  body  of  troops, 
who  marched  along  the  foot  of  the  range  till 
they  found  a  place  where  it  could  be  as- 
cended, when  they  climbed  it  and  seized  the 
heights  directly  over  the  defile.  The  Per- 
sians upon  this  had  to  evacuate  their  strong 
position,  and  to  retire  to  a  lower  range  of  hills 
very  near  to  Pasargadae.  Here  again  there 
was  a  two  days'  fight.  On  the  first  day  all  the 
efiforts  of  the  Medes  to  ascend  the  range 
(which,  though  low,  was  steep,  and  covered 
with  thickets  of  wild  olive)  were  fruitless. 
Their  enemy  met  them,  not  merely  with  the 
ordinary  weapons,  but  w^ith  great  masses  of 
stone,  which  they  hurled  down  with  crushing 
force  upon  their  ascending  columns.  On  the 
second  day,  however,  the  resistance  was 
weaker  or  less  effective.  Astyages  had  placed 
at  the  foot  of  the  range,  below  his  attacking 
columns,  a  body  of  troops  with  orders  to  kill 
all  who  refused  to  ascend,  or  who,  having  as- 
cended, attempted  to  quit  the  heights  and  re- 
turn to  the  valley.  Thus  compelled  to  ad- 
vance, his  men  fought  with  desperation,  and 
drove  the  Persians  before  them  up  the  slopes 


,.c.5s8  CYRUS    FOUNDS    PERSIA  165 

of  the  hill  to  its  very  summit,  where  the  wo- 
men and  children  had  been  placed  for  the 
sake  of  security.  There,  however,  the  tide  of 
success  turned.  The  taunts  and  upbraidings 
of  their  mothers  and  wives  restored  the  cour- 
age of  the  Persians;  and,  turning  upon  their 
foe,  they  made  a  sudden  furious  charge.  TheJ.IP^g'^^ 
Medes,  astonished  and  overborne,  were  driven 
headlong  down  the  hill,  and  fell  into  such 
confusion  that  the  Persians  slew  sixty  thou- 
sand of  them. 

Still  Astyages  did  not  desist  from  his  at- 
tack. The  authority  whom  we  have  been  fol- 
lowing here  to  a  great  extent  fails  us,  and  we 
have  only  a  few  scattered  notices  from  which 
to  reconstruct  the  closing  scenes  of  the  war. 
It  would  seem  from  these  that  Astyages  still 
maintained  the  offensive,  and  that  there  was 
a  fifth  battle  in  the  immediate  neighborhood 
of  Pasargadae,  wherein  he  was  completely 
defeated  by  Cyrus,  who  routed  the  Median 
army,  and,  pressing  upon  them  in  their  flight, 
took  their  camp.  All  the  insignia  of  Median 
royalty  fell  into  his  hands;  and,  amid  the  ac- 
clamations of  his  army,  he  assumed  them, 
and  was  saluted  by  his  soldiers  "King  of 
Media  and  Persia."  Meanwhile  Astyages  SfrJ^I kfng 
had  sought  for  safety  in  flight;  the  greater  and  Pertia. 
part  of  his  army  had  dispersed,  and  he  was 
left  with  only  a  few  friends,  who  still  ad- 
hered to  his  fortunes.  Could  he  have  reached 
Ecbatana,  he  might  have  greatly  prolonged 


166  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  m.c.  558 

the  Struggle;  but  his  enemy  pressed  him 
^a'JiK  close ;  and,  being  compelled  to  an  engagement, 
he  not  only  suffered  a  complete  defeat,  but 
was  made  prisoner  by  his  fortunate  adversary. 
By  this  capture,  the  Median  monarchy  was 
brought  abruptly  to  an  end.  Astyages  had 
no  son  to  take  his  place  and  continue  the 
struggle.  Even  had  it  been  otherwise,  the 
capture  of  the  monarch  would  probably  have 
involved  his  people's  submission.  In  the 
East  the  king  is  so  identified  with  his  kingdom 
that  the  possession  of  the  royal  person  is  re- 
garded as  conveying  to  the  possessor  all  regal 
rights.  Cyrus,  apparently,  had  no  need  even 
to  besiege  Ecbatana;  the  whole  Median  state, 
together  with  its  dependencies,  at  once  sub- 
mitted to  him,  on  learning  what  had  hap- 
pened. This  ready  submission  was  no  doubt 
partly  owing  to  the  general  recognition  of  a 
close  connection  between  Media  and  Persia, 
which  made  the  transfer  of  empire  from  the 
JJlm'kfo^"  one  to  the  other  but  slightly  galling  to  the 
subjected  power,  and  a  matter  of  complete  in- 
difference to  the  dependent  countries.  Ex- 
cept in  so  far  as  religion  was  concerned,  the 
change  from  one  Iranic  race  to  the  other 
would  make  scarcely  a  perceptible  difference 
to  the  subjects  of  either  kingdom.  The  law  of 
the  state  would  still  be  "the  law  of  the  Medes 
and  Persians."  Official  employments  would 
be  open  to  the  people  of  both  countries.  Even 
the  fame  and  glory  of  empire  would  attach, 


B.C.  ss8  CYRUS    FOUNDS    PERSIA  167 

in  the  minds  of  men,  almost  as  much  to  the 
one  nation  as  the  other.  If  Media  descended  posufon. 
from  her  pre-eminent  rank,  it  was  to  occupy 
a  station  only  a  little  below  the  highest,  and 
one  which  left  her  a  very  distinct  superiority 
over  all  the  subject  races. 


CONFUCIUS 

(B.C.  550-478) 

JAMES    LEGGE 

CONFUCIUS    appeared,    according   to 
Mencius,  one  of  his  most  distinguished 
followers    (B.C.   371-288),   at  a  crisis 
in  the  nation's  history.    "The  world,"  he  says, 
"had  fallen  into  decay,  and  right  principles 
had  disappeared.    Perverse  discourses  and  op- 
pressive deeds  were  waxen  rife.      Ministers 
murdered  their  rulers  and  sons  their  fathers. 
Confucius  was  frightened  by  what  he  saw — 
and  he  undertook  the  work  of  reformation." 
The  sage  was  born,  according  to  the  his- 
torian Sze-ma  Ts'in,  in  the  year  B.C.  550;  ac- 
iiiustrious   cording  to   Kung-yang  and   Kuh-liang,   two 

descent  of  i    •/«//•     r 

Confucius,  earlier  commentators  On  his  Annals  of  Lu, 
in  551 ;  but  all  three  agree  in  the  month  and 
day  assigned  to  his  birth,  which  took  place  in 
the  winter.  His  clan  name  was  K'ung,  and  it 
need  hardly  be  stated  that  Confucius  is  merely 
the  Latinized  form  of  K'ung  Fu-tze,  meaning 
"the  philosopher  or  master  K'ung."  He  was 
a  native  of  the  state  of  Lu,  a  part  of  the  mod- 
ern Shan-tung,  embracing  the  present  depart- 
ment of  Yen-chow  and  other  portions  of  the 
province.     Lu  had  a  great  name  among  the 

(168) 


B.C.  S5<^478 


CONFUCIUS  169 


other  states  of  Chow,  its  marquises  being  de- 
scended from  the  Duke  of  Chow,  the  legisla- 
tor and  consolidator  of  the  dynasty  which  had 
been  founded  by  his  father  and  brother,  the 
famous  kings  Wan  and  Wu.  Confucius's  own 
ancestry  is  traced  up  through  the  sovereigns 
of  the  previous  dynasty  of  Shang,  to  Hwang- 
ti,  whose  figure  looms  out  through  the  mists 
of  antiquity. 

There  was  thus  no  grander  lineage  in  China 
than  that  of  Confucius;  and  on  all  his  pro- 
genitors, since  the  throne  of  Shang  passed 
from  their  line,  with  perhaps  one  exception, 
he  could  look  back  with  complacency.  He 
was  the  son  of  Heih's  old  age.  That  officer 
when  over  seventy  years,  and  having  already 
nine  daughters  and  one  son,  because  that  son  confudus-s 
was  a  cripple,  sought  an  alliance  with  a  gen-  p"^"'*^^* 
tleman  of  the  Yen  clan  who  had  three  daugh- 
ters. The  father  submitted  to  them  Heih's  ap- 
plication, saying  that,  though  he  was  old  and 
austere,  he  was  of  most  illustrious  descent, 
and  they  need  have  no  misgivings  about  him. 
Ching-tsai,  the  youngest  of  the  three,  observed 
that  it  was  for  their  father  to  decide  in  the 
case.  "You  shall  marry  him  then,"  said  the 
father,  and  accordingly  she  became  the  bride 
of  the  old  man,  and  in  the  next  year  the 
mother  of  the  sage.  It  is  one  of  the  unde- 
signed coincidences  which  confirm  the  credi- 
bility of  Confucius's  history,  that  his  favorite 
disciple  was  a  scion  of  the  Yen  clan. 

a  Vol  1 


170 


THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.   550-478 


Death  of 

his  father 


Heih  died  in  his  child's  third  year,  leaving 
his  family  in  straitened  circumstances.  Long 
afterward,  when  Confucius  was  complimented 
on  his  acquaintance  with  many  arts,  he  ac- 
counted for  it  on  the  ground  of  the  poverty 
of  his  youth,  which  obliged  him  to  acquire 
a  knowledge  of  matters  belonging  to  a  mean 
condition.  When  he  was  five  or  six,  people 
took  notice  of  his  fondness  for  playing  with 
edu(^d!.n  companions  at  setting  out  sacrifices,  and  at 
filgl"^"^'  postures  of  ceremony.  He  tells  us  himself 
that  at  fifteen  his  mind  -yvas  set  on  learning; 
and  at  nineteen,  according  to  the  ancient  and 
modern  practice  in  China,  in  regard  to  early 
unions,  he  was  married — his  wife  being  from 
his  ancestral  state  of  Sung.  A  son,  the  only 
one,  so  far  as  we  know,  that  he  ever  had,  was 
born  in  the  following  year;  but  he  had  sub- 
sequently two  daughters.  Immediately  after 
his  marriage,  we  find  him  employed  under 
the  chief  of  the  Ki  clan,  to  whose  jurisdiction 
the  district  of  Tsow  belonged,  first  as  keeper 
of  stores,  and  then  as  superintendent  of  parks 
and  herds.  Mencius  says  that  he  undertook 
such  mean  offices  because  of  his  poverty,  and 
distinguished  himself  by  the  efficiency  with 
which  he  discharged  them,  without  any  at- 
tempt to  become  rich. 

In  his  twenty-second  year  Confucius  com- 
hlrwo^klsmenced  his  labors  as  a  teacher.     He  did  so  at 
first,  probably,  in  a  humble  way;  but  a  school, 
not  of  boys  to  be  taught  the  elements  of  learn- 


hii  work  as 
a  teacher, 


B.C.  550-478 


CONFUCIUS  171 


ing,  but  of  young  and  inquiring  spirits  who 
wished  to  be  instructed  in  the  principles  of 
right  conduct  and  government,  gradually 
gathered  round  him.  He  accepted  the  sub- 
stantial aid  of  his  disciples;  but  he  rejected 
none  who  could  give  him  even  the  smallest 
fee,  and  he  would  retain  none  who  did  not 
show  earnestness  and  capacity.  "When  I 
have  presented,"  he  said,  "one  corner  of  a 
subject,  and  the  pupil  can  not  of  himself 
make  out  the  other  three,  I  do  not  repeat  the 
lesson." 

His  professed  disciples  amounted  to  3,000, 
and  among  them  were  between  seventy  and"*^!^!®* 
eighty  whom  he  described  as  "scholars  of 
extraordinary  ability."  The  most  attached 
of  them  were  seldom  long  away  from  him. 
They  stood  or  sat  reverently  by  his  side, 
watched  the  minutest  particulars  of  his  con- 
duct, studied  under  his  direction  the  ancient 
history,  poetry  and  rites  of  their  country,  and 
treasured  up  every  syllable  which  dropped 
from  his  lips.  They  have  told  us  how  he 
never  shot  at  a  bird  perching  nor  fished  with  a  confudus's 

,  I  •  •  I  habits. 

net,  the  creatures  not  havmg  m  such  a  case 
a  fair  chance  for  their  lives;  how  he  con- 
ducted himself  in  court  and  among  villagers; 
how  he  ate  his  food,  and  lay  in  his  bed,  and 
sat  in  his  carriage;  how  he  rose  up  before  the 
old  man  and  the  mourner;  how  he  changed 
countenance  when  it  thundered,  and  when  he 
saw  a  grand  display  of  viands  at  a  feast.    He 


172  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c  550-478 

was  free  and  unreserved  in  his  intercourse 
with  them,  and  was  hurt  once  when  they 
seemed  to  think  that  he  kept  back  some  of  his 
doctrines  from  them.  Several  of  them  were 
men  of  mark  among  the  statesmen  of  the  time, 
and  it  is  the  highest  testimony  to  the  character 
of  Confucius  that  he  inspired  them  with  feel- 
ings of  admiration  and  reverence.  It  was  they 
who  set  the  example  of  speaking  of  him  as  the 
greatest  of  mortal  men ;  it  was  they  who  struck 
the  first  notes  of  that  paean  which  has  gone  on 
resounding  to  the  present  day. 
The  wan-  Confucius  was  in  his  fifty-sixth  year  when 
Confucius,  he  left  Lu;  and  thirteen  years  elapsed  ere  he 
returned  to  it.  In  this  period  were  comprised 
the  travels  among  the  different  states,  when 
he  hoped,  and  ever  hoped  in  vain,  to  meet 
with  some  prince  who  would  accept  him  as 
his  counsellor,  and  initiate  a  government  that 
should  become  the  centre  of  a  universal  refor- 
mation. Several  of  the  princes  were  willing  to 
entertain  and  support  him;  but  for  all  that  he 
could  say,  they  would  not  change  their  ways. 
It  was  in  his  sixty-ninth  year,  B.C.  483,  that 
Confucius  returned  to  Lu.  One  of  his  dis- 
ciples, who  had  remained  in  the  state,  had 
been  successful  in  the  command  of  a  military 
^   ,  .     expedition,  and  told  the  prime  minister  that 

Confucius  '  )  r 

[oTu"'  he  had  learned  his  skill  in  war  from  the  Mas- 
ter— urging  his  recall,  and  that  thereafter 
mean  persons  should  not  be  allowed  to  come 
between  the  ruler  and  him.     The  state  was 


B.C.  5S<^478  CONFUCIUS  173 

now  in  the  hands  of  the  marquis  whose  neglect 
had  driven  the  sage  away;  but  Confucius 
would  not  again  take  office.  Only  a  few  years 
remained  to  him,  and  he  devoted  them  to  the 
completion  of  his  literary  tasks,  and  the  de- 
livery of  his  lessons  to  his  disciples. 

The  next  year  was  marked  by  the  death  of 
his  son,  which  he  bore  with  equanimity.  His 
wife  had  died  many  years  before,  and  it  jars^^^^^^^^,^ 
upon  us  to  read  how  he  then  commanded  the  and  o/ws 
young  man  to  hush  his  lamentations  of  sor-  ^^"dis*-^*"^' 
row.  We  like  him  better  when  he  mourned 
for  his  own  mother.  It  is  not  true,  however, 
as  has  often  been  said,  that  he  had  divorced 
his  wife  before  her  death.  The  death  of  his 
favorite  disciple.  Yen  Hwui,  in  B.C.  481,  was 
more  trying  to  him.  Then  he  wept  and 
mourned  beyond  what  seemed  to  his  other 
followers  the  bounds  of  propriety,  exclaiming 
that  Heaven  was  destroying  him.  His  own 
last  year,  B.C.  478,  dawned"  on  him  with  the 
tragic  end  of  his  next  beloved  disciple,  Tze-lu. 
Early  one  morning,  we  are  told,  in  the  fourth 
month,  he  got  up  and  with  his  hands  behind 
his  back,  dragging  his  staff,  he  moved  about 
his  door,  crooning  over: 

"The  great  mountain  must  crumble, 
The  strong  beam  must  break, 
The  wise  man  must  wither  away  like  a  plant." 

Tze-lu  heard  the  words  and  hastened  to  him. 
The  master  told  him  a  dream  of  the  previous 


THE  WORLD'S  GREAT  EVENTS 


B.C.   SSO-478 


night,  which,  he  thought,  presaged  his  death. 
buALi^    "No  intelligent  ruler,"  he  said,  "arises  to  take 

Confucius.  »  *  •  1  1  •      )i 

me  as  his  master.    My  time  has  come  to  die. 
So  it  was.    He  took  to  his  bed,  and  after  seven 
days  expired.    Such  is  the  account  we  have  of 
the  last  days  of  the  sage  of  China. 

When  their  master  thus  died,  his  disciples 
buried  him  with  great  pomp.  A  multitude 
of  them  built  huts  near  his  grave,  and  re- 
mained there,  mourning  as  for  a  father,  for 
nearly  three  years;  and  when  all  the  rest  were 
gone,  Tze-kung,  the  last  of  the  favorite  three, 
continued  alone  by  the  grave  for  another 
period  of  the  same  duration.  The  news  of  his 
death  went  through  the  states  as  with  an  elec- 
tric thrill.  The  man  who  had  been  neglected 
when  alive  seemed  to  become  all  at  once  an 
object  of  unbounded  admiration.  The  tide 
began  to  flow  which  has  hardly  ever  ebbed 
during  three-and-twenty  centuries. 

The  grave  of  Confucius  is  in  a  large  rec- 
tangle separated  from  the  rest  of  the  K'ung 
cemetery,  outside  the  city  of  K'iuh-fow.  A 
magnificent  gate  gives  admission  to  a  fine 
avenue,  lined  with  cypress  trees  and  conduct- 
Tomb  of  ing  to  the  tomb,  a  large  and  lofty  mound,  with 
Confucius.  ^  marble  statue  in  front  bearing  the  inscrip- 
tion of  the  title  given  to  Confucius  under  the 
Sung  dynasty:  "The  most  sagely  ancient 
Teacher;  the  all-accomplished,  all-informed 
King."  A  little  in  front  of  the  tomb,  on  the 
left  and  right,  are  smaller  mounds  over  the 


B.C.  550-478 


CONFUCIUS  175 


graves  of  his  son  and  grandson,  from  the  lat- 
ter of  whom  we  have  the  remarkable  treatise 
called  The  Doctrine  of  the  Mean.  All  over 
the  place  are  imperial  tablets  of  different  dy- 
nasties, with  glowing  tributes  to  the  one  man 
whom  China  delights  to  honor;  and  on  the 
right  of  the  grandson's  mound  is  a  small 
house,  said  to  mark  the  place  of  the  hut  where 
Tze-kung  passed  his  nearly  five  years  of  lov- 
ing vigil.  On  the  mound  grow  cypresses, 
acacias,  what  is  called  "the  crystal  tree,"  said 
not  to  be  elsewhere  found,  and  the  Achillea, 
the  plant  whose  stalks  were  employed  in  an- 
cient times  for  purposes  of  divination. 

The  adioinin?  city  is  still  the  home  of  theHisnumer- 
K'ung  family;  and  there  are  said  to  be  in  it^^^'^^^'s- 
between  40,000  and  50,000  of  the  descendants 
of  the  sage. 

Confucius  said  that  ''by  the  Spring  and 
Autumn*  men  would  know  him  and  men^'po'^unt 
would  condemn  him."  It  certainly  obliges  uswork!^ 
to  make  a  large  deduction  from  our  estimate 
of  his  character  and  of  the  beneficial  influence 
which  he  has  exerted.  The  examination  of 
his  literary  labors  does  not  on  the  whole  in- 
crease our  appreciation  of  him.  We  get  a 
higher  idea  of  the  man  from  the  accounts 
which  his  disciples  have  given  us  of  his  inter- 
course and  conversations  with  them,  and  the 
attempts    which    they    made    to    present    his 

*  The  Ch'un  Ts'in,  his  last  literary  labor. 


176  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.   SSO-478 


teachings  in  some  systematic  form.  If  he 
could  not  arrest  the  progress  of  disorder  in 
his  country,  nor  throw  out  principles  which 
should  be  helpful  in  guiding  it  to  a  better 
state  under  some  new  constitutional  system, 
he  gave  important  lessons  for  the  formation 
of  individual  character,  and  the  manner  in 
which  one's  duties  in  the  relations  of  society 
should  be  discharged. 

Foremost  among  these  we  must  rank  his 

distinct  enunciation  of  "the  golden  rule,"  de- 

confucius   duced  by  him  from  his  study  of  man's  mental 

enunciates  J  •> 

en^RS."'  constitution.  Several  times  he  gave  that  rule 
in  express  words :  "What  you  do  not  like  when 
done  to  yourself  do  not  do  to  others."  The 
peculiar  nature  of  the  Chinese  language  en- 
abled him  to  express  this  rule  by  one  char- 
acter, which,  for  want  of  a  better  term,  we 
may  translate  in  English  by  "reciprocity." 
When  the  ideogram  is  looked  at,  it  tells  the 
meaning  to  the  eye — "a  thing  seen  weightier 
than  a  thing  heard."     It  is  composed  of  two 

Howthe    other  characters,  one  denoting  "heart,"  and 

"Golden  ,  ,  •  \  r  •  1  •  u         ?) 

Rule"  is  ex- the    othcr — Itself    composite — denotmg      as. 

pressed  in  i  cz> 

Tram!^  Tzc-kung  once  asked  if  there  were  any  one 
word  which  would  serve  as  a  rule  of  practice 
for  all  one's  life,  and  the  Master  replied,  yes, 
naming  this  character  (shu),  the  "as  heart," 
my  heart,  that  is,  in  sympathy  with  yours; 
and  then  he  added  his  usual  explanation  of 
it,  which  has  been  given  above.  It  has  been 
said  that  he  only  gave  the  rule  in  a  negative 


B.C.  SSO-478 


CONFUCIUS  177 


form,  but  he  understood  it  also  in  its  positive 
and  most  comprehensive  force,  and  deplored, 
on  one  occasion  at  least,  that  he  had  not  him- 
self always  attained  to  taking  the  initiative  in 
doing  to  others  as  he  would  have  them  do  to 
him. 

A  few  of  his  characteristic  sayirtgs  may 
here  be  given,  the  pith  and  point  of  which 
attest  his  discrimination  of  character,  and 
show  the  tendencies  of  his  views: 

"What  the  superior  man  seeks  is  himself ;  some  of 
what  the  small  man  seeks  is  in  others."  maxims. 

"A  poor  man  who  does  not  flatter,  and  a 
rich  man  who  is  not  proud,  are  passable  char- 
acters; but  they  are  not  equal  to  the  poor  who 
are  yet  cheerful,  and  the  rich  who  yet  love 
the  rules  of  propriety." 

"Learning,  undigested  by  thought,  is  labor 
lost;  thought,  unassisted  by  learning,  is  per- 
ilous." 

"In  style  all  that  is  required  is  that  it  con- 
veys the  meaning." 

"The  cautious  seldom  err." 

Sententious  sayings  like  these  have  gone 
far  to  form  the  ordinary  Chinese  character. 
Hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  literati  can  re- 
peat every  sentence  in  the  classical  books ;  the 
masses  of  the  people  have  scores  of  the  Con- 
fucian maxims,  and  little  else  of  an  ethical 
nature,  in  their  memories, — and  with  a  bene- 
ficial result. 

Confucius  laid  no  claim,  it  has  been  seen, 


1<8  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  ■.0.550-478 

to  divine  revelations.  Twice  or  thrice  he  did 
vaguely  intimate  that  he  had  a  mission  from 
heaven;  and  that  until  it  v;as  accomplished  he 
was  safe  against  all  attempts  to  injure  him; 
but  his  teachings  were  singularly  devoid  of 
reference  to  anything  but  what  was  seen  and 
"ndS'°"  tempora'l.  Man  as  he  is,  and  the  duties  be- 
°^°^  ^'  longing  to  him  in  society,  were  all  that  he 
concerned  himself  about.  Man's  nature  was 
from  God;  the  harmonious  acting  out  of  it 
was  obedience  to  the  will  of  God;  and  the 
violation  of  it  was  disobedience.  His  teach- 
ing was  thus  hardly  more  than  a  pure  secu- 
larism. He  had  faith  in  man,  man  made  for 
society,  but  he  did  not  care  to  follow  him  out 
of  society,  nor  to  present  to  him  motives  of 
conduct  derived  from  the  consideration  of  a 
future  state.  Good  and  evil  would  be  recom- 
pensed by  the  natural  issues  of  conduct  within 
the  sphere  of  time, — if  not  in  the  person  of  the 
actor,  yet  in  the  persons  of  his  descendants. 
If  there  were  any  joys  of  heaven  to  reward 
virtue,  terrors  of  future  retribution  to  punish 
vice,  the  sage  took  no  heed  of  the  one  or  the 
other. 


THE    CONQUEST    OF    LYDIA 

(B.C.  548) 

HERODOTUS 

HAVING  passed  the  Halys  with  the 
forces  under  his  command,  Croesus 
entered  the  district  of  Cappadocia, 
which  is  called  Pteria.  It  lies  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  city  of  Sinope  upon  the  Eux- 
ine,  and  is  the  strongest  position  in  the  whole 
country  thereabout.  Here  Croesus  pitched  ouestTCf 
his  camp,  and  began  to  ravage  the  fields  of 
the  Syrians.  He  besieged  and  took  the  chief 
city  of  the  Pterians,  and  reduced  the  inhabi- 
tants to  slavery:  he  likewise  made  himself 
master  of  the  surrounding  villages.  Thus  he 
brought  ruin  on  the  Syrians,  who  were  guilty 
of  no  offence  toward  him.  Meanwhile,  Cyrus 
had  levied  an  army  and  marched  against 
Croesus,  increasing  his  numbers  at  every  step 
by  the  forces  of  the  nations  that  lay  in  his  way.  ^  ^^ 
Before  beginning  his  march  he  had  sent  her-^^^Ji^^'^^f 
aids  to  the  lonians,  with  an  invitation  to  them  ^'*^"*- 
to  revolt  from  the  Lydian  king:  they,  how- 
ever, had  refused  compliance.  Cyrus,  not- 
withstanding, marched  against  the  enemy,  and 

(179) 


180  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  548 

encamped  opposite  them  in  the  district  of 
combitat  Pteria,  where  the  trial  of  strength  took  place 
between  the  contending  powers.  The  com- 
bat was  hot  and  bloody,  and  upon  both  sides 
the  number  of  the  slain  was  great;  nor  had 
victory  declared  in  favor  of  either  party, 
when  night  came  down  upon  the  battlefield. 
Thus  both  armies  fought  valiantly. 

Croesus  laid  the  blame  of  his  ill  success  on 
the  number  of  his  troops,  which  fell  very  short 
of  the  enemy;  and  as  on  the  next  day  Cyrus 
did  not  repeat  the  attack,  he  set  off  on  his  re- 
turn to  Sardis,  intending  to  collect  his  allies 
and  renew  the  contest  in  the  spring. 

Cyrus,  however,  when  Croesus  broke  up  so 
suddenly  from  his  quarters  after  the  battle  of 
Pteria,  conceiving  that  he  had  marched  away 
with   the   intention  of   disbanding  his   army, 
aulcksthe  considered  a  little,  and  soon  saw  that  it  was 
monarch,    advisablc  for  him  to  advance  upon  Sardis  with 
all  haste,  before  the  Lydians  could  get  their 
forces  together  a  second  time.     Having  thus 
determined,  he  lost  no  time  in  carrying  out  his 
plan.     He  marched  forward  with  such  speed 
that  he  was  himself  the  first  to  announce  his 
coming  to  the  Lydian  king.     That  monarch, 
placed  in  the  utmost  difficulty  by  the  turn  of 
events,  which  had  gone  so  entirely  against  ail 
his  calculations,  nevertheless  led  out  the  Lyd- 
ians to  battle.     In  all  Asia  there  was  not  at 
o/thir^     that  time  a  braver  or  more  warlike  people. 

Lydians. 

Their  manner  of  fighting  was  on  horseback; 


B.C.  548  THE    CONQUEST    OF    LYDIA  18.1 

they  carried  long  lances,  and  were  clever  in 
the  management  of  their  steeds. 

The  two  armies  met  in  the  plains  before 
Sardis.  It  is  a  vast  flat,  bare  of  trees,  watered 
by  the  Hyllus  and  a  number  of  other  streams, 
which  all  flow  into  one  larger  than  the  rest, 
called  the  Hermus.  This  river  rises  in  the 
sacred  mountainof  the  Dindymenian  Mother,* 
and  falls  into  the  sea  near  the  town  of  Phocea. 

When  Cyrus  beheld  the  Lydians  arranging 
themselves  in  order  of  battle  on  this  plain, 
fearful  of  the  strength  of  their  cavalry,  hecyrusre- 

tJ  J  '  sorts  to  a 

adopted  a  device  which  Harpagus,  one  of  the '"■^'^^^™- 
Medes,  suggested  to  him.  He  collected  to- 
gether all  the  camels  that  had  come  in  the 
train  of  his  army  to  carry  the  provisions  and 
the  baggage,  and,  taking  off  their  loads,  he 
mounted  riders  upon  them  accoutred  as  horse- 
men. These  he  commanded  to  advance  in 
front  of  his  other  troops  against  the  Lydian 
horse ;  behind  them  were  to  follow  the  foot  sol- 
diers, and  last  of  all  the  cavalry.  When  his 
arrangements  were  complete,  he  gave  his 
troops  orders  to  slay  all  the  other  Lydians  who 
came  in  their  way  without  mercy,  but  to  spare 
Croesus  and  not  kill  him,  even  if  he  should  be 
seized  and  offer  resistance.  The  reason  why 
Cyrus  opposed  his  camels  to  the  enemy's  horse 
was,  because  the  horse  has  a  natural  dread  of 
the  camel,  and  can  not  abide  either  the  sight 

*Cybele,  the  special  deity  of  Phrygia. 


182  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  548 

or  the  smell  of  that  animal.  By  this  stratagem 
he  hoped  to  make  Croesus's  horse  useless  to 
him,  the  horse  being  what  he  chiefly  depended 
on  for  victory.  The  two  armies  then  joined 
battle,  and  immediately  the  Lydian  war- 
horses,  seeing  and  smelling  the  camels,  turned 
round  and  galloped  off;  and  so  it  came  to 
pass  that  all  Croesus's  hopes  withered  away. 
The  Lydians,  however,  behaved  manfully.  As 
soon  as  they  understood  what  was  happen- 
ing, they  leaped  off  their  horses,  and  engaged 
with  the  Persians  on  foot.  The  combat  was 
long;  but  at  last,  after  a  great  slaughter  on 
both  sides,  the  Lydians  turned  and  fled.  They 
were  driven  within  their  walls,  and  the  Per- 
sians lay  siege  to  Sardis. 

Thus  the  siege  began.     Meanwhile  Croesus, 


The  Lydi- 
ans are 

overcome. 


The 


Persians     thinkins;  that  the  place  would  hold  out  no  in- 

besiege 

Sardis.  considerable  time,  sent  off  fresh  heralds  to  his 
allies  from  the  beleaguered  town.  His  former 
messengers  had  been  charged  to  bid  them  as- 
semble at  Sardis  in  the  course  of  the  fifth 
month;  they  whom  he  now  sent  were  to  say 

Croesus      that  hc  was  already  besieged,  and  to  beseech 

sends  to  his  1    •         •   1         •    1        ,,  -i   1  1 

allies  lor  fhcm  to  comc  to  his  aid  with  all  possible  speed. 
The  following  is  the  way  in  which  Sardis 
was  taken.  On  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  siege 
Cyrus  bade  some  horsemen  ride  about  his 
lines  and  make  proclamation  to  the  whole 
army  that  he  would  give  a  reward  to  the  man 
who  should  first  mount  the  wall.  After  this 
he  made  an  assault,  but  without  success.     His 


B.C.S48  THE    CONQUEST    OF    LYDIA  183 

troops  retired,  but  a  certain  Mardian,  Hy- 
reades  by  name,  resolved  to  approach  the  cita- 
del and  attempt  it  at  a  place  where  no  guards  ^^^sardis 
were  ever  set.  On  this  side  the  rock  was  sOtTrld.^^" 
precipitous,  and  the  citadel  (as  it  seemed)  so 
impregnable,  that  no  fear  was  entertained  of 
its  being  carried  in  this  place.  Here  was  the 
only  portion  of  the  circuit  round  which  their 
old  King  Meles  did  not  carry  the  lion  which 
his  leman  bore  to  him.  For  when  the  Tel- 
messians  had  declared  that  if  the  lion  were 
taken  round  the  defences,  Sardis  would  be 
impregnable,  and  Meles,  in  consequence,  car- 
ried it  round  the  rest  of  the  fortress  where  the 
citadel  seemed  open  to  attack,  he  scorned  to 
take  it  round  this  side,  which  he  looked  on  as 
a  sheer  precipice,  and  therefore  absolutely  se- 
cure. It  is  on  that  side  of  the  city  which  faces 
Mount  Tmolus.  Hyreades,  however,  hav- 
ing the  day  before  observed  a  Lydian  soldier 
descend  the  rock  after  a  helmet  that  had  rolled 
down  from  the  top,  and  having  seen  him  pick 
it  up  and  carry  it  back,  thought  over  what  he 
had  witnessed,  and  formed  his  plan.  He 
climbed  the  rock  himself,  and  other  Persians 
followed  in  his  track,  until  a  large  number  had 
mounted  to  the  top.  Thus  was  Sardis  taken, 
and  given  up  entirely  to  pillage. 

With  respect  to  Croesus  himself,  this  is  what 
befell  him  at  the  taking  of  the  town.  He  had 
a  son,  a  worthy  youth,  whose  only  defect  was 
that  he  was  deaf  and  dumb.    In  the  days  of  his 


184  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  548 

prosperity  Croesus  had  done  the  utmost  that  he 
could  for  him,  and  among  other  plans  which 
he  had  devised,  had  sent  to  Delphi  to  consult 
the  oracle  on  his  behalf.  The  answer  which 
he  had  received  from  the  Pythoness  ran 
thus : — 

"Lydian,  wide-ruling  monarch,  thou  wondrous  simple  Croesus, 
Wish    not    ever   to    hear    in    thy   palace    the    voice    thou   hast 

prayed    for. 
Uttering   intelligent   sounds !     Far   better   thy   son   should   be 

silent ! 
Ah !  woe  worth  the  day  when  thine  ear  shall  first  list  to  his 

accents." 

When  the  town  was  taken,  one  of  the  Per- 
sians was  just  going  to  kill  Croesus,  not  know- 
ing who  he  was.  Croesus  saw  the  man  com- 
ing, but  under  the  pressure  of  his  affliction, 
did  not  care  to  avoid  the  blow,  not  minding 
whether  or  no  he  died  beneath  the  stroke. 
Then  this  son  of  his,  who  was  voiceless,  be- 
holding the  Persian  as  he  rushed  toward 
Croesus,  in  the  agony  of  his  fear  and  grief 
burst  into  speech,  and  said,  "Man,  do  not  kill 
Croesus."  This  was  the  first  time  that  he  had 
ever  spoken  a  word,  but  afterward  he  re- 
tained the  power  of  speech  for  the  remainder 
of  his  life. 

Thus  was  Sardis  taken  by  the  Persians,  and 
Croesus  himself  fell  into  their  hands,  after 
having  reigned  fourteen  years,  and  been  be- 
sieged in  his  capital  fourteen  days;  thus  too 
did  Croesus  fulfil  the  oracle,  which  said  that 
he  should  destroy  a  mighty  empire, — by  de- 


The  dumb 
son  of 
CrcESUs 
speaks. 


B.C.  548  THE    CONQUEST    OF    LYDIA  185 

stroying  his  own.  Then  the  Persians  who 
had  made  Croesus  prisoner  brought  him  be- 
fore Cyrus.  Now  a  vast  pile  had  been  raised 
by  his  orders,  and  CrcESus,  laden  with  fetters,  crcesus on 

,  ,  .  I'll-  •  'he  funeral 

was  placed  upon  it,  and  with  him  twice  seven  pyre. 
of  the  sons  of  the  Lydians.  I  know  not 
whether  Cyrus  was  minded  to  make  an  offer- 
ing of  the  first  fruits  to  some  god  or  other,  or 
whether  he  had  vowed  a  vow  and  was  per- 
forming it,  or  whether,  as  may  well  be,  he  had 
heard  that  Crcesus  was  a  holy  man,  and  so 
wished  to  see  if  any  of  the  heavenly  powers 
would  appear  to  save  him  from  being  burned 
alive.  However  it  might  be,  Cyrus  was  thus 
engaged,  and  Croesus  was  already  on  the  pile, 
when  it  entered  his  mind  in  the  depth  of  his 
woe  that  there  was  a  divine  warning  in  the 
words  which  had  come  to  him  from  the  lips 
of  Solon,  "No  man  while  he  lives  is  happy." 
When  this  thought  smote  him  he  fetched  a 
long  breath,  and  breaking  his  deep  silence, 
groaned  out  aloud,  thrice  uttering  the  name  of 
Solon.  Cyrus  caught  the  sounds,  and  bade 
the  interpreters  inquire  of  Croesus  who  it  was 
he  called  on.  They  drew  near  and  asked  him, 
but  he  held  his  peace,  and  for  a  long  time 
made  no  answer  to  their  questionings,  until 
at  length,  forced  to  say  something,  he  ex- 
claimed, "One  I  would  give  much  to  see  con- 
verse with  every  monarch."  Not  knowing 
what  he  meant  by  this  reply,  the  interpreters 
begged  him  to  explain  himself;  and  as  they 


186  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  548 

pressed  for  an  answer,  and  grew  to  be  trouble- 
some, he  told  them  how,  a  long  time  before, 
Solon,  an  Athenian,  had  come  and  seen  all  his 
splendor,  and  made  light  of  it;  and  how  what- 
ever he  had  said  to  him  had  fallen  out  exactly 
as  he  foreshowed,  although  it  was  nothing 
that  especially  concerned  him,  but  applied  to 
all  mankind  alike,  and  most  to  those  who 
seemed  to  themselves  happy.  Meanwhile,  as 
he  thus  spoke,  the  pile  was  lighted,  and  the 
outer  portion  began  to  blaze.  Then  Cyrus, 
Cyrus       hearing  from   the  interpreters  what  Croesus 

relents.  <='  ^ 

had  said,  relented,  bethinking  himself  that  he 
too  was  a  man,  and  that  it  was  a  fellow-man, 
and  one  who  had  once  been  as  blessed  by  for- 
tune as  himself,  that  he  was  burning  alive; 
afraid,  moreover,  of  retribution,  and  full  of 
the  thought  that  whatever  is  human  is  inse- 
cure. So  he  bade  them  quench  the  blazing 
fire  as  quickly  as  they  could,  and  take  down 
Croesus  and  the  other  Lydians,  which  they 
tried  to  do,  but  the  flames  were  not  to  be 
mastered. 

Then,  the  Lydians  say  that  Croesus,  per- 
ceiving by  the  efforts  made  to  quench  the  fire 
that  Cyrus  had  relented,  and  seeing  also  that 
all  was  in  vain,  and  that  the  men  could  not 
get  the  fire  under,  called  with  a  loud  voice 
upon  the  god  Apollo,  and  prayed  him,  if  he 
had  ever  received  at  his  hands  any  acceptable 
gift,  to  come  to  his  aid,  and  deliver  him  from 
his  present  danger.     As  thus  with  tears  he  be- 


B.C.  548  THE    CONQUEST    OF    LYDIA  187 

sought  the  god,  suddenly,  though  up  to  that 
time  the  sky  had  been  clear  and  the  day  with- 
out a  breath  of  wind,  dark  clouds  gathered, 
and  the  storm  burst  over  their  heads  with  rain  Apoiioex- 
of  such  violence,  that  the  flames  were  speedily  tiTe^flamll. 
extinguished.  Cyrus,  convinced  by  this  that 
Crcesus  was  a  good  man  and  a  favorite  of 
heaven,  asked  him,  after  he  was  taken  ofif  the 
pile,  "Who  it  was  that  had  persuaded  him  to 
lead  an  army  into  his  country,  and  so  become 
his  foe  rather  than  continue  his  friend?"  to 
which  Croesus  made  answer  as  follows:  "What 
I  did,  O  King,  was  to  thy  advantage  and  to 
my  loss.  If  there  be  blame,  it  rests  with  the 
god  of  the  Greeks,  who  encouraged  me  to  be- 
gin the  war.  No  one  is  so  foolish  as  to  prefer 
war  to  peace,  in  which,  instead  of  sons  bury- 
ing their  fathers,  fathers  bury  their  sons.  But 
the  gods  willed  it  so." 

Thus  did  Crcesus  speak.  Cyrus  then  or- 
dered his  fetters  to  be  taken  ofif,  and  made  him 
sit  down  near  himself,  and  paid  him  much  re- 
spect, looking  upon  him,  as  did  also  the  cour- 
tiers, with  a  sort  of  wonder. 


THE    FALL    OF    BABYLON 

(B.C.  538) 


T 


SIR    WALTER    RALEIGH 

HE  only  hope  of  the  Medes  and  Per- 
sians, who  despaired  of  carrying  by 
assault  a  city  so  well  fortified  and 
The  manned,  was  in  cutting  off  all  supplies  of 
slby^n."  victuals  and  other  necessities :  whereof,  though 
the  town  was  said  to  be  stored  sufficiently  for 
more  than  twenty  years,  yet  might  it  be  well 
deemed  that  in  such  a  world  of  people  as  dwelt 
within  those  gates,  one  great  want  or  other 
would  soon  appear  and  vanquish  the  resolu- 
tion of  that  unwarlike  multitude.  In  expect- 
ing the  success  of  this  course,  the  besiegers 
were  likely  to  endure  much  travail,  and  all  in 
vain  if  they  did  not  keep  strict  watch  and 
strong  guards  upon  all  quarters. 

This  was  hard  to  do,  in  regard  of  the  vast 
circuit  of  those  walls  which  they  were  to  gird 
Its  vast-  in,  with  numbers  neither  great  enough,  nor 
of  men  sufficiently  assured  unto  their  com- 
manders, the  consideration  whereof  minis- 
tered unto  the  Babylonians  matter  of  good 
pastime,  when  they  saw  the  Lydians,  Phryg- 

(188) 


B.C.538  THE    FALL    OF    BABYLON  189 

ians,  Cappadocians,  and  others  quartered 
about  their  town  to  keep  them  in,  who  having 
been  their  ancient  friends  and  allies,  were 
more  likely  to  join  with  them,  if  occasion  were 
offered,  than  to  use  much  diligence  on  the  be- 
half of  Cyrus,  who  had,  as  it  were,  yesterday, 
laid  upon  their  necks  the  galling  yoke  of  ser- 
vitude. While  the  besieged  were  pleasing 
themselves  in  this  deceitful  gladness,  that  is  ^ 

o  '  Cyrus  plans 

the  ordinary  forerunner  of  sudden  calamity,  Euphrates. 
Cyrus,  whom  the  Ordinance  of  God  made 
strong  and  constant,  and  inventive,  devised, 
by  so  many  channels  and  trenches  as  were  suf- 
ficient and  capable  of  Euphrates,  to  draw  the 
same  from  the  walls  of  Babylon,  thereby  to 
make  his  approach  the  more  facile  and  as- 
sured, which  when  by  the  labor  of  many  hands 
he  had  performed,  he  stayed  the  time  of  his  ad- 
vantage for  the  execution;  for  he  had  left  cer- 
tain banks  or  heads  uncut  between  the  main 
river  which  surrounded  the  city  and  his  own 
trenches. 

Now  Balthasar,  finding  neither  any  want 
or  weakness  within,  nor  any  possibility  of  ap- 
proach for  his  enemies  without,  prepared  an 

*  7    r-       r-  -pijg  great 

exceedmg  sumptuous  feast,  public  plays  and  ^B^fsh«zar. 
other  pastimes ;  and  thereto  invited  a  thousand 
of  his  princes  or  nobility,  besides  his  wives, 
courtesans  and  others  of  that  trade.  This  he 
did  either  to  let  the  besiegers  know  that  his 
provisions  were  either  sufficient,  not  only  for 
all  needful  uses,  but  even  for  jollity  and  ex- 


190  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  sjS 

cess;  or  because  he  hoped  that  his  enemies, 
under  the  burden  of  many  distresses,  were  well 
near  broken ;  or  in  honor  of  Bell,  his  most  rev- 
erenced idol;  or  that  it  was  his  birth,  or  coro- 
nation-day; or  for  many  or  all  these  respects. 
And  he  was  not  contented  with  such  magnifi- 
cence as  no  prince  else  could  equal,  but  (using 
Daniel's  words),  "he  lifted  himself  up  against 
the  Lord  of  Heaven":  for  he  and  his  princes, 
wives  and  concubines  made  carousing  cups  of 
the  vessels  of  God,  in  contempt  of  whom  he 
praised  his  own  puppets,  made  of  silver  and 
gold,  of  brass,  iron,  wood  and  stone:  Quanta 
fuit  stultitia  in  vasibus  aureis  bibentes,  ligneos 
et  lapideos  deos  laudare?  "How  great  a  fool- 
ishness was  it,"  saith  St.  Hierom,  "drinking  in 
golden  cups,  to  praise  gods  of  wood  and  stone  ?" 
While  Balthasar  was  in  this  sort  triumphing. 

The  hand  \  '^' 

the  wliT    ^"d  his  brains  well  filled  with  vapors,  he  be- 
held a  hand,  which  by  divine  power  wrote  on 
the   wall   opposite    unto   him    certain   words 
which  he  understood  not: wherewith  so  great  a 
fear  and  amazement  seized  him,  as  the  "joints 
of  his  loins  were  loosed,  and  his  knees  smote 
one  against  the  other."     Which  passion,  when 
he  had  in  some  part  recovered,  he  cried  out 
for    his    Chaldeans,    astrologians    and    sooth- 
sayers, promising  them  great  rewards,  and  the 
Theastroi-  third  placc  of  honor  in  the  kingdom  to  him 
sfoTh^yers  that  could  read  and  expound  the  writing;  but 
foUer-"'^  it  exceeded  their  art.    In  this  disturbance  and 
astonishment,   the  queen,   hearing  what  had 


B.C.538  THE    FALL    OF    BABYLON  191 

passed  and  of  the  king's  amazement,  after  a 
reverence  done,  used  this  speech:  "There  is  a 
man  in  thy  kingdom,  in  whom  is  the  spirit  of 
the  holy  gods,  and  in  the  days  of  thy  father, 
light  and  understanding,  and  wisdom,  like  the 
wisdom  of  the  gods,  was  found  in  him,  whom 
the  King  Nabuchodonosor,  thy  father,  the 
king  (I  say),  thy  father,  made  chief  of  the 
enchanters,  astrologians,  Chaldeans,  and  sooth- 
sayers, because  a  more  excellent  spirit  and 
knowledge,  and  understanding,  etc.,  were 
found  in  him,  even  in  Daniel,  etc.  Now  let 
Daniel  be  called,  and  he  will  declare  the  in- 
terpretation." 

This  queen  Josephus  takes  for  the  grand- 
mother, Origen  and  Theodoret  for  the  mother  JJ^^^^^f^^" 
of  Balthasar;  either  of  which  may  be  true;  forLe^'sentTor. 
it  appeareth  that  she  was  not  any  of  the  king's 
wives,  because  absent  from  the  feast;  and 
being  past  the  age  of  dancing  and  banqueting, 
she  came  in  upon  the  bruit  of  the  miracle,  and 
to  comfort  the  king  in  his  distraction.  And 
whereas  Daniel  was  forgotten  and  neglected 
by  others  both  of  younger  years  and  times,  this 
old  queen  remembered  well  what  he  had  done 
in  the  days  of  Nabuchodonosor,  grandfather 
to  Balthasar,  and  kept  in  mind  both  his  re- 
ligion and  divine  gifts. 

When   Daniel  was  brought  to  the  king's 
presence,  who  acknowledged  those  excellent  broughun. 
graces  wherewith  God  had  enriched  him,  he 
prayed  him,  together  with  promises  of  reward 


192  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  5j« 

and  honor,  to  read  and  interpret  those  words 
miraculously  written;  to  whom  Daniel  made 
answer  in  a  far  different  style  from  that  he 
used  toward  his  grandfather:  for,  the  evil 
which  he  foretold  Nabuchodonosor  he  wished 
that  the  same  might  befall  his  enemies;  but 
to  this  king  (whose  neglect  of  God,  and  vice, 
he  hated)  he  answered  in  these  words:  "Keep 
thy  reward  to  thyself,  and  give  thy  gifts  to  an- 
other; yet  will  I  read  the  writing  unto  the  king 
and  show  him  the  interpretation."  Which, 
relds^and    bccausc  hc  had  performed,  he  gave  him  first 

interprets.  '  '  '^ 

the  cause  of  God's  just  judgment  agamst  him, 
and  the  reason  of  this  terrible  sentence,  where- 
of the  king  and  all  his  wise  men  were  utterly 
ignorant.  Which  being  written  large  in  Dan- 
iel, hath  this  effect.  That  forgetting  God's 
goodness  to  his  father,  whom  all  nations 
feared  and  obeyed,  and  that  for  his  pride  and 
neglect  of  those  benefits  as  he  deprived  him 
of  his  estate  and  understanding,  so  upon  the 
acknowledgment  of  God's  infinite  power  he 
restored  him  to  both.  This  king,  notwith- 
standing, lifted  himself  up  against  the  same 
God;  and  presuming  both  to  abuse  those  ves- 
sels dedicated  to  holy  uses,  and  neglecting  the 
Lord  of  all  power,  praised  and  worshipped 
the  dead  idols  of  gold,  silver,  brass,  iron,  stone 
and  wood  :  and  therefore  those  words  from  the 
oracle  of  a  true  God  delivered  (to  wit),  Mene, 
Mene,  Tekel,  Upharsin,  gave  the  king  knowl- 
edge that  God  hath  numbered  the  time  of  his 


B.C.  538  THE    FALL    OF    BABYLON  193 

kingdom,  and  finished  it;  that  he  was  weighed 
in  the  balance  of  God's  justice  and  found  too 
light;  and  that  his  empire  was  divided  and 
given  to  the  Medes  and  Persians. 

The  very  evening  or  night  of  this  day 
wherein  Balthasar  feasted  and  perished, 
Cyrus,  either  by  his  espials,  according  to 
Xenophon,  or  inspired  by  God  himself,  whose 
ensign  he  followed  in  this  war,  found  the  time 
and  opportunity  to  invite  him:  and  therefore 
while  the  king's  head  and  the  heads  of  his  no- 
bility were  no  less  filled  with  the  vapors  of 
wine  than  their  hearts  with  the  fear  of  God's 
judgment,  he  caused  all  the  banks  and  heads 
of  his  trenches  to  be  opened  and  cut  down 
with  that  diligence,  as  by  them  he  drew  the^^^^^^^^^ 
great  river  of  Euphrates  dry  for  the  present,  ""^"^ 
by  whose  channel  running,  his  army  made 
their  entrance,  finding  none  to  disturb  them. 
All  the  town  lay  buried  (as  the  poet  saith)  in 
sleep  and  wine:  such  as  came  in  the  Persian's 
way  were  put  to  the  sword,  unless  they  saved 
themselves  by  flight,  as  some  did,  who  ran 
away  crying  and  filling  the  streets  with  an 
uncertain  tumult. 

Such  Assyrian  lords  as  had  revolted  from 
Balthasar  and  betaken  themselves  to  the  party 
of  Cyrus  did  now  conduct  a  selected  company 
to  the  king's  palace;  which  having  easily 
forced,  they  rushed  into  the  chamber  where  of  ^^e 

'  -'  revellers. 

the  king  with  his  princes  were  banqueting, 
slew  both  him  and  them  without  any  mercy, 

<>  Vol.  1 


194  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.ssS 

who  Struggled  in  vain  to  keep  those  lives 
which  God  had  newly  threatened  to  take 
away.  And  now  was  the  prophecy  of  Jeremy 
fulfilled,  and  that  of  Esay  two  hundred  years 
before  this  subversion;  who  in  his  seventh 
and  fortieth  Chapter,  and  elsewhere,  writeth 
this  destruction  so  feelingly  and  lively,  as  if 
he  had  been  present  both  at  the  terrible 
slaughter  there  committed,  and  had  seen  the 
great  and  unfeared  change  and  calamity  of 
this  great  empire;  yea,  and  had  also  heard  the 
sorrows  and  bewailings  of  every  surviving 
soul  thereunto  subject.  His  prophecy  of  this 
place  he  be^inneth  in  these  words:   "Come 

Jewish 

Fuffn/d'"  ^^^^'^  ^^^  sit  in  the  dust,  O  Virgin  Daughter 
of  Babel:  sit  on  the  ground,  there  is  no 
throne,"  etc.  And  again, "Sit  still,  and  get  thee 
into  darkness,  O  daughter  of  the  Chaldeans; 
for  thou  shalt  no  more  be  called  the  Lady  of 
Kingdoms."  For,  though  it  can  not  be  doubted 
that  God  used  Nabuchodonosor  and  the  Chal- 
deans to  punish  the  idolatry  of  the  Judeans, 
yet  Esay  teacheth  us  in  this  place,  That  he  did 
not  yet  forget,  that  the  execution  of  his  judg- 
ments was  mixed  with  a  righteous  extremity. 
For  (saith  Esay)  in  the  person  of  God,  "I  was 
wroth  with  my  people,  I  have  polluted  mine 
inheritance,  and  given  them  into  thine  hand: 
thou  didst  show  them  no  mercy;  but  thou  didst 
lay  thy  very  heavy  yoke  upon  the  ancient.  I 
will  rise  up  against  them,  saith  the  Lord  of 
Hosts,  and  will  cut  ofif  from  Babel  the  Name, 


B.C.538  THE    FALL    OF    BABYLON  195 

and  the  Remnant,  and  the  Son  and  the 
Nephew."  And  in  the  thirteenth,  "Every  one 
that  is  found  shall  be  stricken  through:  who- 
soever joined  himself  shall  fall  by  the  sword, 
their  children  also  shall  be  broken  in  pieces 
before  their  eyes,  their  houses  spoiled,  and 
their  wives  ravished."  So  as  there  is  no  his- 
torian who  was  either  present  at  this  victory 
of  Cyrus,  or  that  received  the  report  from 
others  truly  as  it  was,  that  could  better  leave 
the  same  to  posterity  after  it  happened,  than 
Esay  hath  done  in  many  places  of  his  prophe- 
cies, which  were  written  two  hundred  years 
before  anything  attempted. 

The  greatness  and  magnificence  of  Baby- 
lon, were  it  not  by  divers  grave  authors  set 
down,  might  seem  altogether  fabulous:  for 
besides  the  reports  of  Saint  Hierom,  Solinus, 
and  Orosius,  Aristotle  in  the  third  of  his 
Politics,    the    second    chapter,    received    thcandmag-^ 

__,  .  nificence  of 

report  for  true.  That  one  part  of  the  city  knew  Babylon. 
not  the  rest  was  taken  three  days  after.  Which 
is  not  impossible,  if  the  testimony  of  Diodorus 
Siculus  may  be  taken;  who  finds  the  compass 
at  three  hundred  and  threescore  stadia  or  fur- 
longs, which  makes  five  and  forty  miles:  the 
walls  whereof  had  so  great  a  breadth  that 
six  chariots  might  pass  in  front  thereon. 
And  of  height,  according  to  Ctesias,  three 
hundred  threescore  and  five  foot,  garnished 
with  a  hundred  and  fifty  towers.  Strabo, 
in   the   beginning   of   his   sixteenth   book   of 


196  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  B.c.538 

geography,  gives  it  a  greater  circuit,  adding 
five  and  twenty  furlongs  more  to  the  former 
compass,  reckoning  the  same  at  three  hundred 
fourscore  and  five  furlongs,  which  make  eight 
and  forty  miles  and  one  furlong,  but  finds  the 
walls  far  under  that  which  Diodorus  reports: 
and  so  doth  Curtius  measure  their  thickness 
but  at  two  and  thirty  feet,  and  their  height  at 
_.      ,,    a  hundred  cubits,  which  is  also  very  much; 

The  walls  '  -'  ' 

of  Babylon.  g^gj.y  Q^^\)[l  containing  a  foot  and  a  half  of 
the  large  measure,  though  to  the  whole  circuit 
of  the  city  he  gives  the  same  with  Siculus, 
and  eight  furlongs  more.  Herodotus  finds  a 
greater  content  than  Strabo  doth,  namely,  four 
hundred  and  fourscore  furlongs  circle;  the 
thickness  of  the  wall  he  measures  at  fifty 
cubits,  and  the  height  at  two  hundred  of  the 
same  regal  cubit.  For  instance,  it  had  a  hun- 
dred gates  of  brass,  with  posts  and  hooks  to 
hang  them  on  of  the  same  metal;  and  there- 
fore did  the  prophet  Esay  rightly  entitle 
Babylon,  The  Princess  and  Glory  of  King- 
doms. 

But  when  Cyrus  had  won  her,  he  stripped 
Jtruafon  of  her  of  her  princely  robes,  and  made  her  a 
the  city,  slave;  dividing  not  only  all  her  goodly  houses, 
and  her  whole  territory,  with  all  the  riches 
therein  contained,  among  his  soldiers;  but  be- 
stowing the  inhabitants  themselves  as  bond 
slaves  upon  those  that  had  taken  possession  of 
their  goods. 


CONQUEST    OF    EGYPT    BY    CAMBYSES 

(B.C.  325) 

G.   MASPERO 

AS  soon  as  Cyrus  was  dead,  Amasis  pre- 
pared for  war.  Cambyses,  seeking  for 
a  pretext  to  declare  it,  seized  the  first 
that  offered  itself.  According  to  the  Per- 
sians, he  asked  for  the  hand  of  the  daughter 
of  the  old  king  in  the  hope  that  he  would  be  J^e^g^'y^*,^ 
refused  and  that  he  would  have  an  insult  tOEgJpt. 
avenge:  instead  of  sending  his  own  daughter, 
Amasis  sent  Nitetis,  the  daughter  of  Ouhabra. 
Some  time  afterward  Cambyses,  being  with 
her,  called  her  by  the  name  of  her  pretended 
father.  Upon  this  she  said:  "I  perceive,  O 
King,  that  you  have  no  suspicion  of  the  way 
you  have  been  deceived  by  Amasis:  he  took^^^^  ^^ 
me,  and,  having  covered  me  with  jewels,  sent^'^"'^- 
me  to  you  as  his  own  daughter.  I  am  really 
the  daughter  of  Apries,  who  was  his  lord  and 
master  until  the  day  that  he  revolted,  and,  in 
concert  with  the  rest  of  the  Egyptians,  put  him 
to  death."  This  discovery  and  the  motive  for 
a  quarrel  contained  in  it,  aroused  the  anger  of 
Cambyses,  son  of  Cyrus,  and  drew  his  arms 
upon  Egypt.     In  Egypt  the  story  is  related 

(197) 


198  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  525 


differently.     Nitetis  had  been  sent  to  Cyrus 
%xrsiKf    and   bore  him   Cambyses:   the   conquest  was 

ihis  story.  r        1  1         •    •  r  -t 

merely  a  revenge  of  the  legitimate  family 
upon  the  usurper  Amasis,  and  Cambyses  as- 
cended the  throne  less  as  a  conqueror  than  as 
the  grandson  of  Ouhabra.  It  was  by  such  a 
childish  fiction  as  this,  that  the  Egyptians,  in 
their  decadence,  consoled  themselves  for  their 
weakness  and  their  shame.  Always  proud  of 
their  past  glory,  but  incapable  of  vanquishing 
and  ruling,  they  pretended  that  they  were  only 
vanquished  and  ruled  by  one  of  themselves. 
It  was  not  Persia  that  imposed  her  king  upon 
Egypt:  it  was  Egypt  that  imposed  hers  upon 
Persia,  and  through  Persia  upon  the  rest  of 
the  world. 

For  a  long  time  the  desert  and  the  marshes 
formed  a  real  bulwark  for  Egypt  against  the 
attacks  of  the  Asiatic  princes.  Between  the 
Egypt's  last  important  post  of  Syria  lenysos  and  Lake 
defences.  Scrbonis,  wherc  the  Egyptian  outposts  were  sit- 
uated, there  is  a  distance  of  nearly  ninety  kilo- 
metres (fifty-six  miles),  which  an  army  could 
not  traverse  in  less  than  three  days'  march.  In 
past  centuries,  the  extent  of  the  desert  had 
been  smaller:  but  the  ravages  of  the  Assyrians 
and  the  Chaldeans  had  depopulated  the  coun- 
try and  delivered  into  the  power  of  the  nomad 
Arabs  regions  that  were  formerly  easy  to  cross. 
An  unforeseen  event  helped  Cambyses  out  of 
the  embarrassment  caused  by  the  crossing  of 
the  desert.     One  of  the  generals  of  Amasis, 


B.C.  525  CONQUEST   OF   EGYPT   BY   CAMBYSES  199 

Phanes  of  Halicarnassus,  deserted  and  entered 
the  service  of  Persia.  He  possessed  judgment  desertl. 
and  energy,  and  a  deep  knowledge  of  Egypt. 
He  advised  the  king  to  ally  himself  with  the 
Sheikh,  who  ruled  over  this  coast,  and  to  de- 
mand a  safe  passage  from  him.  The  Arab 
stationed  all  along  the  way  relays  of  camels 
laden  with  a  sufficient  quantity  of  water  for 
the  needs  of  an  army. 

On    arriving    at    Pelusium,    the    Persians 
learned  that  Amasis  was  dead  and  that  hisAmasisis 

succeeded 

son,  Psammetichus  HI.,  had  succeeded  him.byP^'n 

■  '  meticnus 

Notwithstanding  their  belief  in  their  gods"^' 
and  in  themselves,  the  Egyptians  had  been  a 
prey  to  gloomy  presentiments.  It  was  not 
only  the  nations  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates, 
but  the  whole  of  Asia,  from  the  Ganges  to  the 
Hellespont,  that  was  rushing  upon  the  valley 
of  the  Nile  and  threatening  to  crush  her.  The 
people,  disturbed  with  fears  of  the  stranger, 
saw  evil  omens  in  everything,  and  interpreted 
the  slightest  natural  phenomenon  as  a  bad 
sign.  Rain  is  rare  in  the  Thebaid,  and  storms 
occur  there  only  once  or  twice  in  a  century. 
Several  days  after  the  accession  of  Psammet- 
ichus, "rain  fell  at  Thebes  in  little  drops — n  omens. 
a  thing  that  had  never  happened  before."  The 
battle  that  took  place  before  Pelusium  was 
conducted  from  beginning  to  end  with  a  des- 
perate bravery.  Phanes  had  left  his  children 
in  Egypt.  His  former  soldiers,  the  Carians 
and  lonians  in  the  service  of  Pharaoh,  cut 


200         THE  WORLD'S  GREAT  EVENTS 


B.C.  525 


their  throats  before  his  eyes,  poured  their 
blood  in  a  large  vase  half  filled  with  wine, 
drank  the  mixture  and  furiously  threw  them- 
The battle  selves  iuto  the  hottest  of  the  fight.  Toward 
sium*:"'  evening  the  Egyptian  lines  gave  way  and  the 
defeat  began.  Instead  of  rallying  the  rem- 
nant of  his  troops  and  defending  the  passage 
of  the  canals,  Psammetichus,  losing  his  head, 
ran  away  to  hide  in  Memphis.  Cambyses  sent 
to  him  a  summons  to  deliver  himself  up,  but 
the  furious  populace  massacred  the  heralds. 
After  several  days  of  siege,  the  city  was  taken. 
Upper  Egypt  yielded  without  resistance.  The 
su^S-"  Libyans  and  the  Cyreneans  did  not  wait  to  be 
asked  to  offer  their  tribute.  One  successful 
battle  had  sufficed  to  destroy  the  Empire  of 
the  Pharaohs. 

This  sudden  collapse  of  a  power  that  had 
defied  all  the  attacks  of  the  East  for  centuries, 
and  the  fate  of  this  king,  who  had  mounted 
the  throne  only  to  fall  from  it,  instantly  filled 
contemporaries  with  astonishment  and  pity. 
It  is  related  that  ten  days  after  the  capitula- 
tion of  Memphis,  the  conqueror  wished  to  test 
the  endurance  of  his  prisoner.  He  saw  his 
daughter  dressed  as  a  slave  pass  before  him 
and  his  sons  and  the  sons  of  noble  Egyptians 
led  to  death,  without  losing  any  of  his  imper- 
turbability. But  when  one  of  his  former  com- 
panions in  pleasure  walked  past  him,  clothed 
in  rags  like  a  beggar,  Psammetichus  burst  into 
sobs  and  beat  his  forehead  in  despair.     Cam- 


CONQUEST   OF    EGYPT   BY   CAMBYSES  201 


ses 
tries  the  en- 


byses,  surprised  at  this  excessive  grief  in  acambyi 
man  who  had  just  shown  such  fortitude,  asked  du^nceof 

1  •       1      Psammeti- 

the  reason  of  it.     To  this  question  he  replied :  ^^^^^s. 
"O,  son  of  Cyrus,  my  own  misfortunes  are 
too  deep  for  tears,  but  not  the  affliction  of  my 
friend.     When  a  man  falls  from  luxury  and 
abundance  into  misery  at  the  threshold  of  old 
age,  one  may  well  weep  over  him."     When 
the  messenger  reported  these  words  to  Cam- 
byses,  he  realized  that  they  were  true ;  Croesus 
also  burst  into  tears — for  he  was  in  Egypt  with 
Cyrus — and  all  the  Persians  present  began  to 
cry.     Even  Cambyses  was  touched  with  pity. 
He  treated  his  prisoner  royally,  and  was  prob- 
ably going  to  place  him  as  a  vassal  on  the 
throne  of  Egypt,  when  he  learned  that  Psam-ThePer- 
metichus  was  conspiring  against  him.      HchasPha- 
had  him  put  to  death,  and  confided  the  govern-  <^e^'h. 
ment  of  Egypt  to  the  Persian  Aryandes. 

All  the  civilized  world  of  the  ancients  was 
now  under  a  single  sceptre  for  the  first  time: 
one  might  have  asked  if  it  would  be  possible 
to  hold  for  a  long  time  in  the  same  empire  the 
people  of  the  Caucasus  and  those  of  Egypt, 
the  Greeks  of  Asia  Minor  and  the  Turanians 
of  Media,  the  Aryans  of  Bactria  and  the  Se- 
mites of  the  borders  of  the  Euphrates.  Cam- 
byses first  tried  to  conciliate  his  new  subjects 
by  conforminG:  to  their  customs  and  prejudices. 
He  adopted  the  double  cartouche,  the  proto- 
col and  the  royal  costume  of  the  old  Pharaohs; 
as  much  to  satisfy  his  own  personal  animosity 


202  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  ».c.  325 

as  to  win  the  favor  of  the  old  loyalist  party, 
he  repaired  to  Sais,  violated  the  tomb  of 
Amasis  and  burned  his  mummy.  This  act  of 
posthumous  justice  against  the  usurper  accom- 
plished, he  treated  Ladike,  the  widow  of  his 
cambyses  rival,  Very  well,  and  sent  her  back  to  her  re- 
leasethe   lations.      He   ordered   an   evacuation   of   the 


I' 


gyptians. 


His  expedi' 
tion  to 
Carthage. 


great  Temple  of  Nit,  where  the  Persian  troops 
were  lodged  to  the  great  displeasure  of  the 
faithful,  and  repaired,  at  his  own  expense,  the 
damages  they  had  made.  He  carried  his  zeal 
so  far  as  to  be  instructed  in  the  religion,  and 
was  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  Osiris  by 
the  priest  Uzaharrisniti.  His  dream  was  to 
make  Egypt  a  basis  of  solid  operations  for  the 
conquest  of  the  whole  of  Africa.  On  the  west, 
the  renown  of  Carthage,  increased  by  uncer- 
tainty and  distance,  excited  his  cupidity.  At 
first  he  wanted  to  attack  this  by  sea,  but  the 
Phenicians,  who  manned  his  flotilla,  refused 
to  serve  against  their  old  colony.  Forced  to 
undertake  it  by  land,  he  sent  from  Thebes  an 
army  of  50,000  men  to  occupy  the  Oasis  o! 
Ammon  and  to  open  the  way  for  the  rest  of 
the  troops.  They  all  perished  in  the  sands  of 
the  desert,  and  the  Persian  Empire  never  suc- 
ceeded in  passing  this  frontier  of  Egypt. 

The  enterprise  toward  the  south  appeared 
easier:  it  seemed  as  if  by  going  up  the  Nile 
one  might  reach  the  very  heart  of  Africa  with- 
out any  great  difficulty.  Since  the  retreat  of 
Tanuatamanu,  the  kingdom  of  Napata  had 


CONQUEST  OF   EGYPT   BY   CAMBYSES 


203 


severed  all  relations  with  the  nations  of  Asia. 
Attacked  by  Psammetichus  I.  and  Psammeti- 
chus  II.,  it  had  preserved  its  independence 
and  had  broken  off  relations  with  Egypt.    The  ^-he king- 
countries  of  lower  Nubia,  between  the  first Napauand 

I'll  1  J    J  '^^  legends. 

and  second  cataracts,  so  thickly  populated  dur- 
ing the  period  of  the  great  Egyptian  kings, 
had  become  almost  depopulated:  the  towns 
founded  by  the  princes  of  the  XVIIIth  and 
XlXth  dynasties  were  in  ruins  and  their  tem- 
ples were  beginning  to  disappear  beneath  the 
sands.  Below  the  second  cataract  the  king- 
dom of  Napata  began,  divided,  like  Egypt,  > 
into  two  regions.  The  isolation  in  which  these 
Egyptians  had  lived  since  they  had  lost  Egypt 
had  rather  increased  than  lessened  their  re- 
nown. Almost  invisible  in  the  distance  to  the 
nations  of  the  Mediterranean,  they  had  grad- 
ually been  invested  with  marvellous  and  half 
divine  virtues.  It  was  said  that  they  were  the 
largest  and  handsomest  of  men  who  lived  up 
to  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  and  more,  that 
they  possessed  a  marvellous  fountain  whose 
waters  imparted  perpetual  youth  to  their 
bodies.  Near  their  capital  therewas  a  meadow 
that  perpetually  furnished  food  and  drink  al- 
ready prepared;  any  who  wished  could  enter 
and  eat  to  his  content.  Gold  was  so  abundant 
that  it  was  used  for  the  commonest  purposes, 
even  for  the  chains  of  the  prisoners:  copper 
was  rare  and  greatly  prized.  Cambyses  sent 
some  spies  to  explore  the  country,  and  on  their 


204  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


Cambyses 


report,  left  Memphis  at  the  head  of  an  army. 

decTdS't"  Instead  of  ascending  the  Nile  as  far  as  Na- 
pata,  he  took  the  shorter  route  through  the 
desert;  but  he  had  taken  no  precautions:  pro- 
visions failed  at  a  quarter  of  the  march,  and 
famine  obliged  him  to  return  to  Egypt  after 
he  had  lost  many  of  his  men.  This  disaster 
exasperated  him  so  much  that  he  forgot  a  lit- 

uonfai^s.^'' tie  of  the  diplomatic  policy  that  he  had  shown 
up  to  now,  and  he  let  himself  be  carried  away 
by  the  violence  of  his  nature.  The  bull.  Apis, 
had  died  during  his  absence,  and  the  Egyp- 
tians, after  having  mourned  for  him  during 
the  prescribed  number  of  days,  were  about  to 
invest  a  new  Apis  with  the  rites,  when  the 
remnant  of  the  Persian  army  re-entered  Mem- 
phis. Cambyses,  finding  the  city  in  festal  ar- 
ray, imagined  that  it  was  rejoicing  over  his 
disaster.  He  summoned  the  magistrates  and 
then  the  priests  before  him,  and  had  them  put 

Cambyses  to  dcath  without  listening  to  their  explana- 
tions. He  then  commanded  the  Bull  to  be  led 
before  him,  and  he  himself  plunged  his  dag- 
ger into  its  flank,  which  caused  the  death  of 
the  animal  within  a  few  days.  This  sacrilege 
excited  more  indignation  in  the  hearts  of  the 
faithful  than  the  ruin  of  their  country  had 
done:  their  hatred  was  redoubled  when  the 
Persian  took  as  much  trouble  to  wound  their 
prejudices  as  he  had  formerly  taken  to  con- 
ciliate them.  He  entered  the  Temple  of 
Phtah  in  Memphis  and  mocked  at  one  of  the 


■.C.S2S  CONQUEST   OF   EGYPT   BY   CAMBYSES  205 

figures   that   represented   the  god.     He  vio- 
lated ancient  sepulchres  so  that  he  might  ex-  viXtel^ 

"^  °  tombs. 

amine  the  mummies.  The  Aryans  themselves 
and  his  courtiers  did  not  escape  his  rage.  He 
killed  his  sister,  whom  he  had  made  his  wife 
in  spite  of  the  law  that  prohibited  marriages 
between  children  of  the  same  father  and 
mother.  At  another  time,  he  pierced  with 
his  arrow  the  son  of  Prexaspes,  buried  alive 
twelve  important  Persians,  and  ordered  the 
execution  of  Croesus,  of  which  he  repented, 
and  then,  however,  condemned  the  officers 
who  had  not  executed  the  order  that  he  re- 
pented of  having  given.  The  Egyptians 
maintained  that  the  gods  had  driven  him 
mad  as  a  punishment  for  his  sacrileges. 
There  was  nothing  to  keep  him  now  on  the 

Cambyses 

banks  of  the  Nile:  he  returned  to  Asia.  He'^^S'^^'^sto 
was  in  the  northern  part  of  Syria  when  a  her- 
ald presented  himself  before  him,  and  pro- 
claimed, in  the  hearing  of  the  entire  army, 
that  Cambyses,  son  of  Cyrus,  had  ceased  to 
reign,  and  summoned  all  those  who  had  here- 
tofore obeyed  him,  to  acknowledge  as  their 
king  Smerdis,  son  of  Cyrus.  Cambyses  at 
first  believed  that  his  brother  had  been  spared 
by  the  officer  commanded  to  assassinate  him: 
he  soon  learned  that  his  orders  had  been  only 
too  faithfully  executed,  and  he  wept  at  the 
memory  of  this  useless  crime.  He  soon 
learned  that  the  usurper  was  a  certain  Gau- 
mata,  whose  resemblance  to  Smerdis  was  so 


Asia. 


206 


THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  S3S 


Gaumata, 
the  impos- 
tor. 


Death  of 
Carabyses. 


Striking  that  even  those  persons  who  knew 
it  were  easily  deceived.  Gaumata  had  a 
brother,  Oropastes,  to  whom  Cambyses  had 
confided  the  superintendence  of  his  house- 
hold. Both  of  them  knew  of  the  death  of 
Smerdis;  they  also  knew  that  most  of  the 
Persians  were  ignorant  of  it  and  believed  that 
he  was  still  alive.  Gaumata  profited  by  these 
circumstances  to  proclaim  himself  king,  and 
his  imposture  was  accepted  everywhere;  the 
western  provinces  of  the  Empire  were  com- 
ing to  offer  submission  without  any  opposi- 
tion when  the  herald  met  the  army  of  Cam- 
byses. At  first  thunderstruck  with  this  news, 
Cambyses  was  about  to  march  forward  at 
the  head  of  his  troops,  who  were  still  loyal, 
when  he  died  mysteriously.  The  inscription 
of  Behistun  insinuates  that  he  killed  himself 
in  a  moment  of  despair.  Herodotus  relates 
that  in  mounting  his  horse,  the  point  of  his 
dagger  pierced  his  thigh  in  the  same  spot  in 
which  he  had  stabbed  the  Bull  Apis.  "Feeling 
himself  seriously  wounded,  he  asked  the  name 
of  the  place  where  he  was,  and  was  told  that 
it  was  Agbatana."  Not  long  before  this,  the 
oracle  of  Buto  had  announced  that  he  would 
end  his  days  in  Agbatana.  He  had  imagined 
it  Agbatana  in  Media,  where  all  his  treasures 
lay,  and  had  believed  that  he  would  die  there 
in  old  age  :  but  the  oracle  had  meant  Agbatana 
in  Syria.  When  he  was  told  the  name  of  this 
place,  it  came  back  to  him:  he  understood  the 


B.C.  S2S 


CONQUEST   OF    EGYPT   BY   CAMBYSES  207 


meaning  of  the  oracle  and  said:  "It  is  here 
then  that  Cambyses,  son  of  Cyrus,  must  die!" 
He  died  about  twenty  days  afterward,  leaving 
no  posterity  and  having  appointed  no  suc- 
cessor. 

[Peisistratus  ruled  as  tyrant  of  Athens, 
560-527,  without,  however,  revoking  Solon's 
constitution,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
Hippias,  527-510.  His  brother,  Hipparchus, 
being  murdered  in  514,  Hippias  revenged 
himself  on  the  party  of  the  murderers.] 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    PEISISTRAT/E 

(B.C.  510) 


tus, 


P 


WILLIAM  MITFORD 

LUTARCH  reports  that  Solon  died  at 
the  age  of  eighty,  about  two  years  after 
the  elevation  of  Peisistratus.  The 
usurper,  if  he  were  such,  fell  soon  after  from 
his  high  situation;  expelled  by  the  united 
strength  of  Megacles  and  Lycurgus.  This 
appears  fresh  proof  in  favor  of  Peisistratus. 
He  flourished  and  enjoyed  Solon's  friendship 
while  Solon  lived:  when  he  had  lost  that  ex- 
cellent man's  support,  his  opponents  acquired 
the  superiority.  But  the  confederate  rivals 
could  not  long  agree.  Megacles  sent  pro- 
posals of  reconciliation  to  Peisistratus;  and, 
at  the  same  time  to  evince  his  sincerity  and  to 
ensure  permanence  of  union,  offered  him  his 
daughter  in  marriage.  Peisistratus  accepted 
ptilistra-  *^^  condition.  But  a  majority  in  the  Athenian 
assembly  must  be  procured  to  favor  their 
views,  or  all  their  private  compacts  would  be 
vain.  The  account,  given  by  Herodotus,  of 
the  manner  in  which  this  was  effected  is 
among  the  strangest  in  all  history;  yet  that 
author  lived  so  nearly  within  memory  of  the 

(208) 


B.C.  510  EXPULSION    OF   THE    PEISISTRAT^  209 

event,  the  story  is  so  little  flattering  to  any,  and 
the  circumstances  were  of  so  public  a  nature, 
that,  though  party  prejudice  is  likely  enough 
to  have  disguised  it,  we  scarcely  can  suppose  it 
wholly  unfounded. 

They  found,  we  are  told,  a  woman  of 
the  Peanian  borough,  named  Phya,  far  ex- 
ceeding common  size;  of  low  birth,  and  by 
occupation  a  garland-seller;  but,  with  her 
extraordinary  stature,  well-proportioned  and 
handsome.  Her  they  dressed  in  a  com- 
plete suit  of  armor,  with  every  ornament  that 
could  add  grace  and  splendor  to  a  fine,  natu- 
ral figure;  and  seating  her  in  a  magnificent 
chariot,  they  drove  into  the  city,  heralds  pre- 
ceding, who  proclaimed,  "O  Athenians,  with^^^^^,^ 
willing  minds  receive  Peisistratus,  whom'^'""''^ 
Minerva,  honoring  above  all  men,  herself  con- 
ducts into  your  citadel."  The  people,  adds 
the  historian,  believed  the  woman  to  be  the 
goddess,  and  worshipped  her,  and  received 
Peisistratus,  who  thus  recovered  the  tyranny. 

Whatsoever  the  authority  of  Peisistratus 
was  in  the  Athenian  state,  by  whatsoever 
means  supported,  and  in  whatsoever  way  ex- 
erted, it  appears  certain  that  he  never  assumed 
the  tone  of  royalty.  On  his  death,  his  influ- 
ence descended  to  sons  worthy  of  such  a 
father:  but  so  entirely  was  the  administration 
of  the  republic  still  conducted  according  to 
the  forms  prescribed  by  the  constitution,  that, 
when  afterward  it  became  popular  at  Athens 


210  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  sio 

to  call  Peisistratus  and  his  successors  kings 
and  tyrants,  no  one  public  act  recorded  who 
was  his  successor.  Herodotus,  who  lived 
within  memory  of  his  contemporaries,  men- 
tions Hippias  and  Hipparchus  as  sons  of 
Peisistratus,  without  saying  which  was  the 
elder  or  the  superior. 

However  this  might  be,  those  brothers  had 
certainly  together  the  principal  influence  in 
the  administration  of  Athens.  Heads  of  the 
prevailing  party,  their  friends  only  could 
obtain  the  principal  magistracies.  But  that 
power,  which  the  favor  of  their  party  gave 
them,  they  used  very  advantageously  for  the 
public,  and  without  asperity  toward  their 
opponents.  The  character  of  Hipparchus  is 
transmitted  to  us,  on  no  less  authority  than 
that  of  Plato,  as  one  of  the  most  perfect  in  his- 
Hiopus  tory.  Such  were  his  virtues,  his  abilities,  and 
^rchut  his  diligence,  that  the  philosopher  does  not 
scruple  to  say  the  period  of  his  administration 
was  like  another  golden  age.  He  was  in  the 
highest  degree  a  friend  to  learning  and  learned 
men.  The  collection  and  digestion  of  Ho- 
mer's works,  by  others  ascribed  to  his  father, 
is  by  Plato  attributed  to  him.  Hipparchus, 
however,  introduced  them  more  generally  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  Athenians,  by  directing 
that  a  public  recital  of  them  should  always 
make  a  part  of  the  entertainment  at  the  Pan- 
athenean  festival.  He  invited  the  poets  An- 
acreon  of  Teos,  and  Simonides  of  Ceos,  to 


B.C.  5TO  EXPULSION   OF  THE   PEISISTRAT^  211 

Athens,  and  liberally  maintained  them  there. 
Desirous  of  diffusing  instruction  as  widely  as 
possible  among  his  fellow  countrymen,  while 
books  were  yet  few,  and  copies  not  easily  mul- 
tiplied, he  caused  marble  terms  of  Mercury, 
with  short  moral  sentences  engraved  on  the 
sides,  to  be  erected  in  the  streets  and  principal 
highways  throughout  Attica.  Such  are  the 
anecdotes  remaining  of  Hipparchus.  Hip- 
pias  was  at  the  same  time  beneficially  active  Good  rule 
in  public  business.  He  improved  the  public"  '^^'^^ 
revenue.  Under  his  superintendency  the 
money  of  Attica  was  called  in  and  recoined. 
He  was  author  of  a  law  allowing  composi- 
tions in  money  for  various  burdensome  offices, 
which  before  none  could  avoid.  He  prose- 
cuted the  improvements  of  the  city  begun  by 
his  father.  Attic  taste  in  every  branch  ap- 
pears to  have  had  its  rise  principally  under 
the  Peisistratids.  The  administration  of  the 
commonwealth  was  at  the  same  time  con- 
ducted, in  peace,  and  in  war,  happily  at  home 
and  honorably  abroad;  and,  according  to  the 
remarkable  expression  of  the  able  and  impar- 
tial Thucydides,  "Those  tyrants  singularly 
cultivated  wisdom  and  virtue." 

The  circumstances  which  produced  the 
death  of  Hipparchus,  the  expulsion  of  his 
family,  and  a  number  of  great  events,  are,  as 
common  in  conspiracies,wrapped  in  inexplica- 
ble mystery.  The  account  given  by  Thucyd- 
ides, utterly  abhorrent  as  it  is  from  our  man- 


212  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  s«« 

ners,  was,  we  must  suppose,  not  inconsistent 
with  those  of  Athens;  yet  did  not  satisfy  Plato, 
who  relates  a  different  story.  Succeeding 
writers  have  differed  from  both.  But  there 
is  one  circumstance,  of  principal  histcwical 
consequence,  in  which  all  agree :  it  was  private 
revenge,  and  not  any  political  motive,  that 
induced  Aristogeiton  and  Harmodius,  two 
Athenians  of  middle  rank,  to  conspire  the 
death  of  Hippias  and  Hipparchus.  For  the 
time  of  executing  their  intention  they  chose 
the  festival  of  Panathenea;  because,  part  of 
the  ceremony  consisting  in  a  procession  of 
armed   citizens,   they   could  then   go  .  armed 

Mystery  of  .    .  .     .  , 

irlT'  Without  excitmg  suspicion.  1  hey  engaged 
few  in  their  plot:  nothing  remains  from  which 
to  suppose  they  had  any  object  beyond  killing 
the  two  brothers;  and  even  for  this  their  meas- 
ures appear  to  have  been  ill-concerted.  Their 
first  attempt  was  intended  against  Hippias, 
while  he  was  directing  the  ceremony  in  the 
Cerameicus,  a  place  in  the  suburbs:  but,  as 
they  approached,  they  saw  one  of  their  fellow- 
conspirators  familiarly  conversing  with  him; 
for,  says  Thucydides,  Hippias  was  easy  of  ac- 
cess to  all.  This  excited  a  suspicion  that  they 
were  betrayed ;  upon  which  they  suddenly  re- 
solved to  go  against  Hipparchus,  who  was  su- 
perintending in  the  Leocorion,  within  the  city 
walls.  There  they  so  far  succeeded  as  to  kill 
Hipparchus;  but  Harmodius  was  also  killed 
on  the  spot.     Aristogeiton  escaped  the  guards 


B.C.    SIO 


EXPULSION    OF   THE   PEISISTRAT^  213 


who  attended  Hipparchus,  but,  being  taken  by 
the  people,  was  not  mildly  treated.  Such  is 
Thucydides's  expression. 

Now  it  was,  according  to  the  testimony 
which  Plato  has  delivered  in  very  pointed 
terms,  that  the  tyranny  properly  began.  Ttje^^ 
Anger  at  so  atrocious  a  deed,  together  with 
uncertainty  from  what  quarter  he  might  have 
next  to  fear,  led  Hippias  immediately  to  se- 
verities. Many  Athenians  were  put  to  death. 
And,  this  change  of  conduct  once  made,  to 
revert  to  the  former  course  was  not  a  matter 
of  option.  Other  support  than  the  love  of 
his  fellow-countrymen  became  necessary,  not 
merely  to  the  power,  but  even  to  the  personal 
safety  of  Hippias.  Looking  around,  there- 
fore, for  means  of  improving  his  connections 
among  foreign  states,  he  married  his  only 
daughter  to  ^Eantides,  son  of  Hippovles,  ty- 
rant of  Lampsacus,  who  had  intercourse  with 
the  Persian  court,  and  considerable  interest 
there. 

The  Alcmaeonids,  ejected  by  Peisistratus, 
were  numerous  and  wealthy.  Under  these 
generic  names  the  Greek  writers  include, 
with  the  family,  often  all  the  partisans  of  the 
family.  They  had  settled  themselves  at  Lyp- 
sydrium  above  Paeonia,  so  Herodotus  de- 
scribes the  place,  and  had  fortified  it.  But 
their  hopes  did  not  rest  there:  they  were  un- 
ceasingly watchful  for  opportunities  to  re- 
cover Athens.    With  this  object  in  view,  they 


214  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.    SXO 


omitted  no  means  of  preserving  and  increas- 
ing their  consideration   among  the   Grecian 
states.    It  happened  that  the  temple  of  Delphi 
was  burned.     The  Amphictyons,   of  course, 
were  to  provide  for  the  rebuilding  of  it.    The 
Alcmaeonids  offered  for  a  certain  sum  to  un- 
dertake the  work.     A  contract  was  in  conse- 
quence made  with  them,  by  which  they  were 
The  Ale-    bound  to  erect  a  temple,  according  to  a  plan 
maeonids.    agreed   upon,  of   Porine  stone.     It  was,  un- 
doubtedly, a  very  desirable  circumstance,  for 
an  exiled  family,  objects  of  persecution  to  the 
rulers  of  a  powerful  state,  to  thus  become  con- 
nected with  so  respectable  a  body  as  the  Am- 
phictyons.    But  they  used  the  opportunity  to 
make  all  Greece  in  a  manner  their  debtors, 
and  even  to  involve  the  divinity  of  the  place 
in  obligation  to  them,  by  exceeding  their  con- 
tract in  the  sumptuousness  of  the  execution, 
particularly  by  building  the  whole  front  of 
the  temple  of  Parian  marble.     Another  ad- 
vantage, however,  of  still  greater  importance, 
they  derived,  as  common  report  went  in  He- 
rodotus's  time,  from  engaging  in  this  business. 
J°[h^P*'°"  They  found  means  to  corrupt  the  managers  of 
the  oracle:  in  consequence  of  which,  when- 
ever application,  public  or  private,  was  made 
from  Lacedemon  to  the  god  of  Delphi,  the 
answer  constantly  concluded  with  the  admo- 
nition to  the  Lacedemon  to  give  liberty  to 
Athens. 

This  artifice  at  length  had  the  desired  ef- 


B.C.  sio  EXPULSION   OF  THE   PEISISTRAT^  215 

feet  Though  Lacedemon  was  in  particular 
alliance  with  the  Peisistratids,  and  bound  to 
them  by  the  sacred  ties  of  hospitality,  it  was 
determined  to  invade  Attica.  A  small  force 
only  was  first  sent  under  Anchimolius,  who 
was  defeated  and  slain.  But  the  Alcmaeonid 
party  was  gaining  strength;  the  severities  of 
Hippias  drove  numbers  to  join  them;  and 
the  Lacedemonians,  irritated  by  their  loss 
and  disgrace,  prepared  earnestly  for  revenge. 
They  sent  a  larger  army  into  Attica  under 
their  king,  Cleomenes.  It  was  joined  by  the  ^"j.^'o"  of 
Alcmaeonids.  A  battle  was  fought  at  Pal- 
ienium,  where  the  tyrants  were  defeated,  and 
siege  was  laid  to  Athens.  Little  hope,  how- 
ever, was  entertained  of  taking  the  city  by 
force,  but  some  expectation  was  founded  on 
intrigue.  This  also  Hippias  and  his  principal 
partisans  dreaded,  and  therefore  sent  their 
children  out  of  the  garrison,  to  be  conveyed 
to  a  place  of  safety.  They  fell  into  the  enemy's 
hands;  and  the  fathers,  unable  by  any  other 
means  to  save  them,  consented  to  surrender 
Athens  and  leave  its  territory  in  five  days. 
Hippias  retired  to  Sigeium  on  the  Helles- 
pont, which  was  under  the  government  of 
Hegesistratus,  his  natural  brother,  who  had 
been  established  there  by  Peisistratus. 

The  Lacedemonians  were  at  this  time  by  far 
the  first  people  of  Greece.     Bound  by  their  The  Lace- 
Singular  laws  to  a  kmd  of  monkish  poverty, 
their  ambition  was  unbounded.     Masters  of 


216  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  d.c.  s«o 

Messenia  by  conquest,  allied  from  of  old  with 
Corinth,  and,  as  the  more  powerful  state,  al- 
ways taking  the  lead  in  the  league,  they  in  a 
great  degree  commanded  Peloponnesus.  Still 
they  watched  every  opportunity  to  extend 
their  power.  Whenever  the  Grecian  states 
had  war  with  one  another,  or  sedition  within 
themselves,  the  Lacedemonians  were  ready  to 
interfere  as  mediators.  Generally  they  con- 
ducted the  business  wisely,  and  with  great  ap- 
pearance of  moderation;  but  always  having 
in  view  to  extend  the  authority,  or  at  least  the 
influence  of  their  state.  One  measure  which 
they  constantly  practiced  for  this  purpose 
was  to  favor  aristocratical  power;  or  rather, 
wherever  they  could,  to  establish  an  oligar- 
chy; for  in  almost  every  Grecian  city  there 
was  an  aristocratical  or  oligarchal,  and  a  dem- 
ocratical,  faction;  and  a  few  chiefs  indebted  to 
Lacedemon  for  their  situation,  and  generally 
unable  to  retain  it  without  her  assistance, 
would  be  the  readiest  instruments  for  holding 
their  state  in  what,  though  termed  alliance, 
was  always  a  degree  of  subjection. 

This  policy  it  was  proposed  to  follow  at 
Athens;  and  the  strife  of  factions,  which 
quickly  arose  there,  gave  great  opportunity. 
aSs"^*'  By  the  late  revolution,  Cleisthenes,  son  of 
Megacles,  head  of  the  Alcmsonids,  was  of 
course  the  first  person  of  the  commonwealth. 
But  he  was  a  man  not  of  those  superior  abili- 
ties necessary  to  hold  the  sway  in  a  turbulent 


B.C.  510  EXPULSION    OF   THE   PEISISTRAT^  217 

democracy.  A  party  was  soon  formed  against 
him  under  Isagoras,  with  whom  most  of  the 
principal  Athenians  sided.  The  resource  of 
Cleisthenes  was  therefore  among  the  lower 
people.  These  being  all-powerful  in  the  gen- 
eral assembly,  by  their  means  he  made  some  ^^j^j^^jj^^^g 
alterations  in  the  constitution  favorable  to  hisfsa'^goras. 
own  influence :  particularly  he  divided  anew 
the  Athenian  territory  and  people;  instead  of 
four,  making  the  number  of  tribes  ten,  to 
which  he  gave  entirely  new  names.  It  ap- 
pears from  Herodotus  that  Cleisthenes  was 
at  this  time  not  less  tyrant  of  Athens  than  Pei- 
sistratus  had  been.  His  power  was  equal,  but 
his  moderation  was  not  equal.  In  the  con- 
tests of  Grecian  factions  the  alternative  was 
commonly  victory  or  exile,  and  sometimes 
death.  We  must  not  wonder,  therefore,  if 
the  inferior  party  sometimes  resorted  to  very 
harsh  expedients.  Isagoras  and  his  adherents 
applied  to  Lacedemon.  Cleomenes,  violent  in 
his  temper,  but  of  considerable  abilities,  had 
more  influence  in  the  administration  of  his 
country  than  its  kings  always  possessed.  Im- 
mediately entering  into  the  interest  of  Isag- 
oras, he  sent  a  herald  to  Athens,  by  whom 
he  imperiously  decreed  banishment  against 
Cleisthenes  and  others  of  the  Alcmaeonids,  on 
the  old  pretence  of  inherited  criminality  from 
the  sacrilegious  execution  of  the  partisans  of 
Cylon.  Cleisthenes  obeyed  the  decree.  En- 
couraged by  such  proof  of  the  respect  or  dread 
10  V®^  ^ 


218  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  s'o 

in  which  the  Spartan  power  was  held,  Cleom- 
enes  thought  the  season  favorable  for  mak- 
ing that  change  in  the  Athenian  constitution 
which  would  suit  the  views  of  Spartan  ambi- 
tion. He  went  to  Athens,  attended  by  a  small 
military  force,  and  at  once  banished  seven 
hundred  families.  Such  was  at  this  time 
Athenian  liberty.  He  was  then  proceeding  to 
dissolve  the  council  of  five  hundred,  and  to 
commit  the  whole  power  of  the  common- 
wealth to  a  new  council  consisting  of  three 
hundred,  all  partisans  of  Isagoras.  But  Athens 
was  not  so  far  prepared  for  subjection.  The 
five  hundred  both  refused  themselves  to  sub- 

Revoiuiion  "^^^'    ^^^   cxcltcd   the    people   to   opposition. 

at  Athens.  'Yhc  pcople  rau  to  arms.  Cleomenes  and  Isag- 
oras, taking  refuge  in  the  citadel,  were  be- 
sieged there  two  days.  On  the  third  they  sur- 
rendered, upon  condition  that  the  Lacede- 
monians might  depart  in  safety.  Isagoras 
went  with  them;  but  many  Athenians  of  his 
party  were  executed.  Cleisthenes  and  the  ex- 
iled families  immediately  returned. 

Those  who  now  took  the  lead  in  the  Athe- 
nian government,  though  without  opposition  at 
home,  were  in  extreme  apprehension  of  the 
consequences  of  such  a  breach  with  Lacede- 
mon.  At  a  loss  for  allies  within  Greece  capa- 
ble of  giving  them  effectual  support,  they  sent 
ambassadors  to  Sardis  to  endeavor  to  form  a 
connection  with  Artaphernes,  the  Persian  sa- 
trap.    Hitherto  there  had  been  scarcely  any 


B.C.  510  EXPULSION   OF  THE   PEISISTRAT^  219 

communication  between  any  branch  of  the 
vast  empire  of  Persia  and  the  European 
Greeks.  The  satrap  received  the  deputies  of 
a  little  unheard-of  republic  with  that  haughti- 
ness which  might  be  expected.  Having  ad- 
mitted them  to  audience,  he  asked  who  they 
were,  and  from  what  part  of  the  world  they 
came,  that  they  desired  alliance  with  the  Per- 
sians? Being  informed,  he  answered  them^^^^^^^, 
very  shortly,  "That  if  they  would  give  earth  ^S!° 
and  water  to  King  Darius,"  the  usual  cere- 
mony in  acknowledging  subjection,  "they 
might  be  received  into  alliance;  otherwise 
they  must  depart."  The  ambassadors,  con- 
sidering only  the  immediate  danger  of  their 
country,  consented  to  those  humiliating  terms. 
Such  was  the  first  public  transaction  between 
Greece  and  Persia. 

[The  mythical  period  of  Roman  royalty 
lasted  from  753  to  510,  when  the  Tarquins 
were  expelled  and  Rome  became  a  republic] 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    TARQUINS 

(B.C.  510) 


W 


THOMAS   ARNOLD 

HILE  King  Tarquinius  was  at  the 
height  of  his  greatness,  it  chanced 
upon  a  time  that  from  the  altar  in 
the  court  of  his  palace  there  crawled  out  a 
snake,  which  devoured  the  offerings  laid  on 
the  altar.  So  the  king  thought  it  not  enough 
to  consult  the  soothsayers  of  the  Etruscans 
whom  he  had  with  him,  but  he  sent  two  of 
Kin? Tar-  ^is  owH  sons  to  Delphi  to  ask  counsel  of  the 
^"nds'to  oracle  of  the  Greeks;  for  the  oracle  of  Delphi 
was  famous  in  all  lands.  So  his  sons  Titus 
and  Aruns  went  to  Delphi,  and  they  took  with 
them  their  cousin,  Lucius  Junius,  whom  men 
call  Brutus,  that  is,  the  Dullard;  for  he 
seemed  to  be  wholly  without  wit,  and  he 
would  eat  wild  figs  with  honey.  This  Lucius 
was  not  really  dull,  but  very  subtle ;  and  it  was 
for  fear  of  his  uncle's  cruelty  that  he  made 
himself  as  one  without  sense;  for  he  was  very 
rich,  and  he  feared  lest  King  Tarquinius 
should  kill  him  for  the  sake  of  his  inheri- 
tance.   So  when  he  went  to  Delphi  he  carried 

(220) 


B.C.  5IO  EXPULSION   OF   THE   TARQUINS  221 

with  him  a  staff  of  horn,  and  the  staff  was  hol- 
low, and  it  was  filled  within  with  gold,  and 
he  gave  the  staff  to  the  oracle  as  a  likeness  of 
himself;  for  though  he  seemed  dull,  and  of 
no  account  to  look  upon,  yet  he  had  a  golden 
wit  within.  When  the  three  young  men  had 
performed  the  king's  bidding,  they  asked  the 
oracle  for  themselves,  and  they  said:  "Oh, 
Lord  Apollo,  tell  us  which  of  us  shall  be 
king  of  Rome?"  Then  there  came  a  voice 
from  the  sanctuary  and  said:  "Whichever  of 
you  shall  first  kiss  his  mother."  So  the  sons 
of  Tarquinius  agreed  to  draw  lots  between 
themselves  which  of  them  should  first  kiss 
their  mother,  when  they  should  have  returned 
to  Rome;  and  they  said  they  would  keep  the 
oracle  secret  from  their  brother  Sextus,  lest 
he  should  be  king  rather  than  they.  But  Lu-sr^^us^^^ 
cius  understood  the  mind  of  the  oracle  better  ;'''^°'^^^'^- 
so  as  they  all  went  down  from  the  temple,  he 
stumbled  as  if  by  chance,  and  fell  with  his 
face  to  the  earth,  and  kissed  the  earth;  for  he 
said:  "The  earth  is  the  true  mother  of  us  all." 
Now  when  they  came  back  to  Rome,  King 
Tarquinius  was  at  war  with  the  people 
of  Ardea;  and  as  the  city  was  strong,  his 
army  lay  a  long  while  before  it,  till  it  should 
be  forced  to  yield  through  famine.  So  the 
Romans  had  leisure  for  feasting  and  for  di- 
verting themselves:  and  once  Titus  and  Aruns 
were  supping  with  their  brother  Sextus,  and 
their  cousin  Tarquinius  of  Collatia  was  sup- 


222  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  510 

ping  with  them.  And  they  disputed  about 
their  wives,  whose  wife  of  them  all  was  the 
worthiest  lady.  Then  said  Tarquinius  of  Col- 
latia,  "Let  us  go  and  see  with  our  own  eyes 
what  our  wives  are  doing,  so  shall  we  know 
which  is  the  worthiest."  Upon  this  they  all 
mounted  their  horses,  and  rode  first  to  Rome; 
and  there  they  found  the  wives  of  Titus,  and 
of  Aruns,  and  of  Sextus  feasting  and  making 
merry.  Then  they  rode  on  to  Collatia,  and  it 
was  late  in  the  night,  but  they  found  Lu- 
cretia,  the  wife  of  Tarquinius  of  Collatia, 
Story  of     neither  feasting  nor  yet  sleeping,  but  she  was 

Lucretia.  °  J  r       to? 

sitting  with  all  her  handmaids  around  her, 
and  all  were  working  at  the  loom.  So  when 
they  saw  this,  they  all  said:  "Lucretia  is  the 
worthiest  lady."  And  she  entertained  her 
husband  and  his  kinsmen,  and  after  that  they 
rode  back  to  the  camp  before  Ardea. 

But  a  spirit  of  wicked  passion  seized  upon 
Sextus,  and  a  few  days  afterward  he  went 
alone  to  Collatia,  and  Lucretia  received  him 
hospitably,  for  he  was  her  husband's  kinsman. 
At  midnight  he  arose  and  went  to  her  cham- 
ber, and  he  said  that  if  she  yielded  not  to  him 
he  would  slay  her  and  one  of  her  slaves  with 
her,  and  would  say  to  her  husband  that  he 
had  slain  her  in  her  adultery.  So  when  Sex- 
tus had  accomplished  his  wicked  purpose,  he 
went  back  again  to  the  camp. 

Then  Lucretia  sent  in  haste  to  Rome,  to 
pray    that    her    father,    Spurius    Lucretius, 


B.C.5IO  EXPULSION   OF  THE   TARQUINS  223 

would  come  to  her;  and  she  sent  to  Ardea  to 
summon  her  husband.     Her  father  b rought husband  ^ 

•11'  T-.     1      •  IT  1  ^"'^  father 

along  with   him   Publius  Valerius,   and   her ^wear re- 
husband   brought  with    him   Lucius   Junius, 
whom  men  call  Brutus.    When  they  arrived, 
they  asked  earnestly:  "Is  all  well?"     Then 
she  told  them  of  the  wicked  deed  of  Sextus, 
and  she  said:  "If  ye  be  men,  avenge  it."    And 
they  all  swore  to  her  that  they  would  avenge 
it.     Then  she  said  again:  "I  am  not  guilty; 
yet  must  I  too  share  in  the  punishment  of  this 
deed,  lest  any  should  think  that  they  may  be 
false  to  their  husbands  and  live."     And  shemcretia 
drew  a  knife  from  her  bosom,  and  stabbed  he^lif. 
herself  to  the  heart. 

At  that  sight  her  husband  and  her  father 
cried  aloud;  but  Lucius  drew  the  knife  from 
the  wound,  and  held  it  up,  and  said:  "By  this 
blood  I  swear  that  I  will  visit  this  deed  upon 
King  Tarquinius,  and  all  his  accursed  race; 
neither  shall  any  man  hereafter  be  king  in 
Rome,  lest  he  do  the  like  wickedness."  And 
he  gave  the  knife  to  her  husband,  and  to  her 
father,  and  to  Publius  Valerius.  They  mar- 
velled to  hear  such  words  from  him  whom 
men  called  dull;  but  they  swore  also,  and  they 
took  up  the  body  of  Lucretia,  and  carried  it 
down  into  the  forum;  and  they  said:  "Behold 
the  deeds  of  the  wicked  family  of  Tarquin- 
ius." All  the  people  of  Collatia  were  moved, 
and  the  men  took  up  arms,  and  they  set  a  guard 
at  the  gates  that  none  might  go  out  to  carry 


224  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  $10 


the  tidings  to  Tarquinius,  and  they  followed 
revoS'°^*  Lucius  to  Rome.  There,  too,  all  the  people 
came  together,  and  the  crier  summoned  them 
to  assemble  before  the  tribune  of  the  Celeres, 
for  Lucius  held  that  office.  And  Lucius  spoke 
to  them  of  all  the  tyranny  of  Tarquinius  and 
his  sons,  and  of  the  wicked  deed  of  Sextus. 
And  the  people  in  their  curiae  took  back  from 
Tarquinius  the  sovereign  power,  which  they 
had  given  him,  and  they  banished  him  and  all 
his  family.  Then  the  younger  men  followed 
Lucius  to  Ardea,  to  win  over  the  army  there 
to  join  them;  and  the  city  was  left  in  the 
charge  of  Spurius  Lucretius.  But  the  wicked 
Tullia  fled  in  haste  from  her  house,  and  all, 
both  men  and  women,  cursed  her  as  she 
passed,  and  prayed  that  the  furies  of  her 
father's  blood  might  visit  her  with  vengeance. 
Meanwhile  King  Tarquinius  set  out  with 
speed  to  Rome  to  put  down  the  tumult.  But 
Lucius  turned  aside  from  the  road,  that  he 
might  not  meet  him,  and  came  to  the  camp; 
and  the  soldiers  joyfully  received  him,  and 
they  drove  out  the  sons  of  Tarquinius.  King 
Tarquinius  came  to  Rome,  but  the  gates  were 
shut,  and  they  declared  to  him,  from  the  walls, 
the  sentence  of  banishment  which  had  been 

Tarquin  is 

deposed,  passed  against  him  and  his  family.  So  he 
yielded  to  his  fortune,  and  went  to  live  at 
Caere  with  his  sons  Titus  and  Aruns.  His 
other  son,  Sextus,  went  to  Gabii,  and  the  peo- 
ple there,  remembering  how  he  had  betrayed 


B.C.  5IO  EXPULSION   OF  THE   TARQUINS  225 

them  to  his  father,  slew  him.  Then  the  army 
left  the  camp  before  Ardea,  and  went  back  to 
Rome.  And  all  men  said:  "Let  us  follow  the 
good  laws  of  the  good  King  Servius;  and  let 
us  meet  in  our  centuries,  according  as  he  di- 
rected, and  let  us  choose  two  men  year  by  year 
to  govern  us  instead  of  a  king."  Then  the 
people  met  in  their  centuries  in  the  Field  of 
Mars,  and  they  chose  two  men  to  rule  over 
them,  Lucius  Junius,  whom  men  call  Brutus, 
and  Lucius  Tarquinius  of  Collatia. 

But  the  people  were  afraid  of  Lucius  Tar- 
quinius for  his  name's  sake,  for  it  seemed  as 
though  a  Tarquinius  was  still  king  over  them. 
So  they  prayed  him  to  depart  from  Rome, 
and  he  went  and  took  all  his  goods  with  him, 
and  settled  himself  at  Lavinium.  Then  the 
senate  and  the  people  decreed  that  all  the 
house  of  the  Tarquinii  should  be  banished, 
even  though  they  were  not  of  the  king's  fam- 
ily. And  the  people  met  again  in  their  cen- 
turies, and  chose  Publius  Valerius  to  rule  over 
them,  together  with  Brutus,  in  the  room  of 
Lucius  Tarquinius  of  Collatia. 

Now  at  this  time  many  of  the  laws  of  the 
good  King  Servius  were  restored,  which  Tar- plib\h!s^"'* 
quinius  the  tyrant  had  overthrown.     For  the  are  chosen 

*  -'  to  rule. 

commons  again  chose  their  own  judges  to  try 
all  causes  between  a  man  and  his  neighbor; 
and  they  had  again  their  meetings  and  their 
sacrifices  in  the  city  and  in  the  country,  every 
man  in  his  own  tribe  and  in  his  own  district. 


226  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  SIO 


And  lest  there  should  seem  to  be  two  kings 
instead  of  one,  it  was  ordered  that  one  only  of 
the  two  should  bear  rule  at  one  time,  and  that 
the  lictors,  with  their  rods  and  axes,  should 
walk  before  him  alone.  And  the  two  were  to 
bear  rule  month  by  month. 

Then  King  Tarquinius  sent  to  Rome,  to  ask 

for  all  the  goods  that  had  belonged  to  him; 

^  ,    ,     and  the  senate,  after  a  while,  decreed  that  the 

A  plot  for  '  ' 

^esEion.  goods  should  be  given  back.  But  those  whom 
he  had  sent  to  Rome  to  ask  for  his  goods  had 
meetings  with  many  young  men  of  noble  birth, 
and  a  plot  was  laid  to  bring  back  King  Tar- 
quinius. So  the  young  men  wrote  letters  to 
Tarquinius,  pledging  to  him  their  faith,  and 
among  them  were  Titus  and  Tiberius,  the  sons 
of  Brutus.  But  a  slave  happened  to  overhear 
them  talking  together,  and  when  he  knew  that 
the  letters  were  to  be  given  to  the  messengers 
of  Tarquinius,  he  went  and  told  all  that  he  had 
heard  to  Brutus  and  to  Publius  Valerius.  Then 
they  came  and  seized  the  young  men  and  their 
letters,  and  so  the  plot  was  broken  up. 

After  this  there  was  a  strange  and  piteous 

sight  to  behold.  Brutus  and  Publius  sat  on  their 

judgment-seats  in  the  Forum,  and  the  young 

Bnituscon.men  were  brought  before  them.    Then  Brutus 

soTs"o  "   bade  the  lictors  to  bind  his  own  two  sons, 

death.  •  i  i 

Titus  and  Tiberius,  together  with  the  others, 
and  to  scourge  them  with  rods,  according  to 
the  law.  And  after  they  had  been  scourged, 
the  lictors  struck  oft  their  heads  with  their 


B.C.5IO  EXPULSION   OF  THE  TARQUINS  227 

axes,  before  the  eyes  of  their  father;  and  Bru- 
tus neither  stirred  from  his  seat,  nor  turned 
away  his  eyes  from  the  sight,  yet  men  saw  as 
they  looked  on  him  that  his  heart  was  grieving 
inwardly  over  his  children.  Then  they  mar- 
velled at  him,  because  he  had  loved  justice 
more  than  his  own  blood,  and  had  not  spared 
his  own  children  when  they  had  been  false  to 
their  country,  and  had  offended  against  the 
law.  ' 

When  King  Tarquinius  found  that  the  plot 
was  broken  up,  he  persuaded  the  people  of 
Veii  and  the  people  of  Tarquinii,  cities  of 
the  Etruscans,  to  try  to  bring  him  back  to 
Rome  by  force  of  arms.  So  they  assembled 
their  armies,  and  Tarquinius  led  them  within 
the  Roman  border.  Brutus  and  Publius  led 
the  Romans  out  to  meet  them,  and  it  chanced 
that  Brutus  with  the  Roman  horsemen,  and 
Aruns,  the  son  of  King  Tarquinius,  with  the 
Etruscan  horse,  met  each  other  in  advance  of 
the  main  battles.  Aruns  seized  Brutus  in  his 
kingly  robe,  and  with  the  lictors  of  a  king 
around  him,  levelled  his  spear,  and  spurred 
his  horse  against  him.  Brutus  met  him,  and^rm'^g"^ 
each  ran  his  spear  through  the  body  of  the 
other,  and  they  both  fell  dead.  Then  the 
horsemen  on  both  parts  fought,  and  afterward 
the  main  battles,  and  the  Veientians  were 
beaten,  but  the  Tarquinians  beat  the  Romans, 
and  the  battle  was  neither  won  nor  lost;  but 
in  the  night  there  came  a  voice  out  of  the 


228  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  510 


wood  that  was  hard  by,  and  it  said,  "One  man 
more  has  fallen  on  the  part  of  the  Etruscans 
than  on  the  part  of  the  Romans;  the  Romans 
are  to  conquer  in  the  war."  At  this  the  Etrus- 
cans were  afraid,  and  believing  the  voice,  they 
immediately  marched  home  to  their  own 
country,  while  the  Romans  took  up  Brutus, 
and  carried  him  home  and  buried  him;  and 
Publius  made  an  oration  in  his  praise,  and  all 
the  matrons  of  Rome  mourned  for  him  for  a 
whole  year,  because  he  had  avenged  Lucretia 
well. 

Then  Publius  called  the  people  together  in 
their  centuries,  and  they  chose  Spurius  Lu- 

successors.  cTetlus,  thc  father  of  Lucretia,  to  be  their  mag- 
istrate for  the  year  in  the  room  of  Brutus. 
But  he  was  an  old  man,  and  his  strength  was 
so  much  gone,  that  after  a  few  days  he  died. 
Then  they  chose  in  his  room  Marcus  Horatius. 
But  when  King  Tarquinius  found  that  the 
Veientians  and  Tarquinians  were  not  able  to 
restore  him  to  his  kingdom,  he  went  to  Clu- 
sium,  a  city  in  the  furthest  part  of  Etruria,  be- 
yond the  Ciminian  forest,  and  besought  Lars 

Ss"Si"^  Porsenna,  the  king  of  Clusium,  to  aid  him. 

Porsin^"  So  Porsenna  raised  a  great  army,  and  marched 
against  Rome,  and  attacked  the  Romans  on 
the  hill  Janiculum,  the  hill  on  the  outside  of 
the  city  beyond  the  Tiber;  and  he  drove  them 
down  from  the  hill  into  the  city.  There  was 
a  wooden  bridge  over  the  Tiber  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  hill,  and  the  Etruscans  followed 


B.C.  Sio 


EXPULSION   OF   THE   TARQUINS  229 


close  Upon  the  Romans  to  win  the  bridge,  but 
a  single  man,  named  Horatius  Codes,  stood 
fast  upon  the  bridge,  and  faced  the  Etruscans; 
two  others  then  resolved  to  stay  with  him, 
Spurius  Lartius  and  Titus  Herminius;  and 
these  three  men  stopped  the  Etruscans,  while 
the  Romans,  who  had  fled  over  the  river,  were 
busy  in  cutting  away  the  bridge.  When  it 
was  nearly  all  cut  away,  Horatius  made  his 
two  companions  leave  him,  and  pass  over  the 
bridge  into  the  city.  Then  he  stood  alone  on 
the  bridge,  and  defied  all  the  army  of  the 
Etruscans;  and  they  showered  their  javelins 
upon  him,  and  he  caught  them  upon  his  shield, 
and  stood  yet  unhurt.  But  just  as  they  were^^f^^^^'^* 
rushing  on  him  to  drive  him  from  his  post  by 
main  force,  the  last  beams  of  the  bridge  were 
cut  away,  and  it  all  fell  with  a  mighty  crash 
into  the  river;  and  while  the  Etruscans  won- 
dered, and  stopped  in  their  course,  Horatius 
turned  and  prayed  to  the  god  of  the  river: 
*'0  Father  Tiber,  I  pray  thee  to  receive  these 
arms,  and  me  who  bear  them,  and  to  let  thy 
waters  befriend  and  save  me."  Then  he 
leaped  into  the  river;  and  though  the  darts 
fell  thick  around  him,  yet  they  did  not  hit 
him,  and  he  swam  across  to  the  city  safe  and 
sound.  For  this  the  Romans  set  up  his  statue 
in  the  comitium,  and  gave  him  as  much  land 
as  he  could  drive  the  plow  round  in  the  space 
of  a  whole  day. 

But  King  Porsenna  was  greatly  moved,  and 


230 


THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


Clcelia 
swims 
across  the 
Tiber. 


made  the  Romans  offers  of  peace,  to  which 
they  listened  gladly,  and  gave  up  the  land  be- 
yond the  Tiber,  which  had  been  won  in  for- 
mer times  from  the  Veientians;  and  he  gave 
back  to  them  the  hill  Janiculum.  Besides 
this,  the  Romans  gave  hostages  to  the  king, 
ten  youths  and  ten  maidens,  children  of  noble 
fathers,  as  a  pledge  that  they  would  truly 
keep  the  peace  which  they  had  made.  But  it 
chanced,  as  the  camp  of  the  Etruscans  was 
near  the  Tiber,  that  Cloelia,  one  of  the  maid- 
ens, escaped  with  her  fellows,  and  fled  to  the 
brink  of  the  river,  and  as  the  Etruscans  pur- 
sued them,  Cloelia  spoke  to  the  other  maidens, 
and  persuaded  them,  and  they  rushed  all  into 
the  water,  and  swam  across  the  river,  and  got 
safely  over.  At  this  King  Porsenna  marvelled 
more  than  ever,  and  when  the  Romans  sent 
back  Clcelia  and  her  fellows  to  him,  for  they 
kept  their  faith  truly,  he  bade  her  go  home 
free,  and  he  gave  her  some  of  the  youths  also 
who  were  hostages,  to  choose  whom  she  would ; 
and  she  chose  those  who  were  of  tenderest  age, 
and  King  Porsenna  set  them  free.  Then  the 
Romans  gave  lands  to  Caius,  and  set  up  a 
statue  of  Clcelia  in  the  highest  part  of  the  Sa- 
cred Way;  and  King  Porsenna  led  away  his 
army  home  in  peace. 

So  Tarquinius,  seeing  that  there  was  no 
more  hope  of  aid  from  King  Porsenna,  left 
Clusium  and  went  to  Tusculum  of  the  Latins; 
for  Mamilius  Octavius,  the  chief  of  the  Tus- 


B.C.  510 


EXPULSION   OF  THE  TARQUINS  231 


culans,  had  married  his  daughter,  and  he 
hoped  that  the  Latins  would  restore  him  to 
Rome,  for  their  cities  were  many,  and  when 
he  had  been  king  he  had  favored  them  rather 
than  the  Romans. 

So  after  a  time  some  thirty  cities  of  the 
Latins  joined  together  and  made  Octavius 
Mamilius  their  general,  and  declared  war 
against  the  Romans.  Now  Publius  Valerius 
was  dead,  and  the  Romans  so  loved  and  hon- 
ored him  that  they  buried  him  within  the  city, 
near  the  hill  Velia,  and  all  the  matrons  ofTheLatms 
Rome  had  mourned  for  him  for  a  whole  year;°"^°'°^- 
also  because  the  Romans  had  the  Sabines  for 
their  enemies  as  well  as  the  Latins,  they  had 
made  one  man  to  be  their  ruler  for  a  time  in- 
stead of  t\vo;  and  he  was  called  the  Master  of 
the  people,  or  the  commander,  and  he  had 
all  the  power  which  the  kings  of  Rome  had 
in  times  past.  So  Aulus  Postumius  was  ap- 
pointed Master  of  the  people  at  this  time,  and 
Titus  ^butius  was  the  chief  or  Master  of  the 
horsemen;  and  they  led  out  the  whole  force 
of  the  Romans,  and  met  the  Latins  by  the  lake 
Regillus,  in  the  country  of  Tusculum. 

Then  the  Romans  and  the  Latins  joined  bat- 
tle by  the  lake  Regillus.  There  might  youLtki^J^^ 
see  King  Tarquinius,  though  far  advanced  in 
years,  yet  mounted  on  his  horse  and  bearing 
his  lance  in  his  hand  as  bravely  as  though  he 
were  still  young.  There  was  his  son  Tar- 
quinius, leading  on  to  battle  all  the  band  of 


282         THE  WORLD'S  GREAT  EVENTS 


B.C.  510 


the  house  of  the  Tarquinii,  whom  the  Romans 
had  banished  for  their  name's  sake,  and  who 
thought  it  a  proud  thing  to  win  back  their 
country  by  their  swords,  and  to  become  again 
the  royal  house,  to  give  a  king  to  the  Romans. 
And  on  the  side  of  the  Romans  might  be  seen 
Aulus  Postumius,  the  Master  of  the  people, 
and  Titus  -^butius,  the  Master  of  the  horse- 
men. There  also  was  Titus  Herminius,  who 
had  fought  on  the  bridge  by  the  side  of  Hora- 
tius  Codes,  on  the  day  when  they  saved  Rome 
from  King  Porsenna.  But  Titus  drew  back, 
and  sheltered  himself  amid  his  band;  and 
Marcus  rode  after  him  in  his  fury,  and 
plunged  into  the  midst  of  the  enemy,  and  a 
Latin  ran  a  lance  into  his  side  as  he  was  rush- 
ing on;  but  his  horse  stayed  not  in  his  career 
till  Marcus  dropped  from  him  dead  upon  the 
ground.  Then  the  Romans  feared  yet  more, 
and  the  Tarquinii  charged  yet  more  vehe- 
mently, till  Aulus,  the  leader  of  the  Romans, 
rode  up  with  his  own  chosen  band;  and  he 
bade  them  level  their  lances,  and  slay  all  whose 
faces  were  toward  them,  whether  they  were 
friends  or  foes.  So  the  Romans  turned  from 
their  flight,  and  Aulus  and  his  chosen  band 
fell  upon  the  Tarquinii;  and  Aulus  praved, 

Aulusprays  ^  '^  '  .  '         " 

LndPouux  ^^^  vowed  that  he  would  raise  a  temple  to 
foraid.       Castor  and  to  Pollux,  the  twin  heroes,  if  they 
would  aid  him  to  win  the  battle;  and  he  prom- 
ised to  his  soldiers  that  the  two  who  should  be 
the  first  to  break  into  the  camp  of  the  enemy 


B.C.  5X0 


EXPULSION   OF  THE  TARQUINS  233 


should  receive  a  rich  reward.  When,  behold, 
there  rode  two  horsemen  at  the  head  of  his 
chosen  band,  and  they  were  taller  and  fairer  The  mo^^ 
than  after  the  stature  and  beauty  of  men,  and  ^'"■'^'"^"• 
they  were  in  the  first  bloom  of  youth,  and  their 
horses  were  white  as  snow.  And  the  two 
horsemen  on  white  horses  rode  before  the  Ro- 
mans; and  the  enemy  fled  before  them,  and 
the  Tarquinii  were  beaten  down  and  slain, 
and  Titus  Tarquinius  was  slain  among  them; 
and  the  Latins  fled,  and  the  Romans  followed 
them  to  their  camp,  and  the  two  horsemen  on 
white  horses  were  the  first  who  broke  into  the 
camp.  But  when  the  camp  was  taken,  and 
the  battle  was  fully  won,  Aulus  sought  for  the 
two  horsemen  to  give  them  the  rewards  which 
he  had  promised;  and  they  were  not  found 
either  among  the  living  or  among  the  dead, 
only  there  was  seen  imprinted  on  the  hard 
black  rock  the  mark  of  a  horse's  hoof,  which 
no  earthly  horse  had  ever  made;  and  the  mark 
was  there  to  be  seen  in  after  ages.  And  the 
battle  was  ended,  and  the  sun  went  down. 

Now  they  knew  at  Rome  that  the  armies 
had  joined  battle,  and  as  the  day  wore  away 
all  men  longed  for  tidings.  And  the  sun  went 
down,  and  suddenly  there  were  seen  in  the 
Forum  two  horsemen,  taller  and  fairer  than 
the  tallest  and  fairest  of  men,  and  they  rode  on 
white  horses,  and  they  were  as  men  just  come 
from  the  battle,  and  their  horses  were  all 
bathed  in  foam.     They  alighted  by  the  temple 


234  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  s-o 

of  Vesta,  where  a  spring  of  water  bubbles  up 
from  the  ground  and  fills  a  small  deep  pool. 
There  they  washed  away  the  stains  of  the  bat- 
tle, and  when  men  crowded  around  them,  and 
asked  for  tidings,  they  told  them  how  the  bat- 
tle had  been  fought,  and  how  it  was  won.  And 
they  mounted  their  horses  and  rode  from  the 
Forum,  and  were  seen  no  more;  and  men 
sought  for  them  in  every  place,  but  they  were 
not  found. 

Then  Aulus  and  all  the  Romans  knew  how 
Castor  and  Pollux,  the  twin  heroes,  had  heard 
his  prayer,  and  had  fought  for  the  Romans, 
and  had  vanquished  their  enemies,  and  had 
been  the  first  to  break  into  the  enemies'  camp, 
and  had  themselves,  with  more  than  mortal 
speed,  borne  the  tidings  of  their  victory  to 
Rome.  So  Aulus  built  a  temple  according 
to  his  vow  to  Castor  and  Pollux,  and  gave 


buiidl       rich  offerings;  for  he  said:  "These  are  the 
castorand  fewards  which   I   promised  to  the  two  who 

Pollux.  '^ 

should  first  break  into  the  enemies'  camp;  and 
the  twin  heroes  have  won  them,  and  they  and 
no  mortal  men  have  won  the  battle  for  Rome 
this  day." 

So  perished  the  house  of  the  Tarquinii,  in 
the  great  battle  by  the  lake  Regillus,  and  all 
the  sons  of  King  Tarquinius,  and  his  son-in- 
law,  Octavius  Mamilius,  were  slain  on  that 
battlefield.  Thus  King  Tarquinius  was  the 
ruin  of  all  his  family  and  of  all  his  house, 
and  he  was  left  alone,  utterly  without  hope. 


B.c.sio  EXPULSION   OF  THE   TARQUINS  235 

So  he  went  to  Cumae,  a  city  of  the  Greeks, 
and  there  he  died.  And  thus  the  deeds  ofKin^Tar- 
Tarquinius  and  of  the  wicked  Tullia,  and  of 
Sextus  their  son,  were  visited  upon  their  own 
heads;  and  the  Romans  lived  in  peace,  and 
none  threatened  their  freedom  any  more. 

[The  great  city  of  Sybaris  in  Magna  Greca 
was  totally  destroyed  by  her  rival,  Crotona, 
in  510.  In  509,  Clisthenes  reformed  the  con- 
stitution of  Athens.  There  was  a  short  reac- 
tion brought  about  by  the  Athenian  nobility 
by  the  help  of  a  Spartan  force  in  507,  but  a 
popular  uprising  defeated  the  allies  and  Clis- 
thenes returned.  Sparta  was  now  the  first 
power  in  the  Peloponnesus.  Persia  now  at- 
tacked Greece  in  a  series  of  campaigns,  last- 
ing from  500  to  449.  After  many  reverses, 
the  Greeks  gained  a  great  victory  at  Marathon 
(490)  in  the  second  campaign,  and  the  third 
campaign  was  distinguished  by  the  defence  of 
the  Pass  of  Thermopylae  and  the  great  naval 
victory  of  Salamis  (480).] 


THE    BATTLE    OF    MARATHON 

(B.C.  490) 

SIR   EDWARD   BULWER-LYTTON 

AT  length  Darius  resolved  no  longer  to  de- 
lay the  accomplishment  of  his  designs. 
He  recalled  Mardonius,  whose  energy, 
indeed,  had  not  been  proportioned  to  his  pow- 
ers, and  appointed  two  other  generals — Datis, 
a  native  of  the  warlike  Media,  and  Arta- 
phernes,  his  own  nephew,  son  to  the  former 
satrap  of  that  name.     These  were  expressly 

Expedition  ,  ,  ,  •  x^  •  j 

against      Ordered  to  march  at  once  agamst  bretria  and 

Eretria  and  *^ 

Athens.  Athens.  And  Hippias,  now  broken  in  frame, 
advanced  in  age,  and  after  an  exile  of  twenty 
years,  accompanied  the  Persian  army — san- 
guine of  success,  and  grasping,  at  the  verge  of 
life,  the  shadow  of  his  former  sceptre. 

On  the  Cilician  coast  the  Persian  armament 
encamped — thence,  in  a  fleet  of  six  hundred 
triremes,  it  sailed  to  Samos — passed  through 
the  midst  of  the  clustering  Cyclades,  and  along 
that  part  of  the  iEgean  sea  called  "the  Ica- 
rean,"  from  the  legendary  fate  of  the  son  of 
Dedalus — invaded  Naxos — burned  her  town 
and  temples,  and  sparing  the  sacred  Delos,  in 

(236) 


B.C.  490 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON         237 


which  the  Median  Datis  reverenced  the  tra- 
ditionary birthplace  of  two  deities  analogous 
to  those  most  honored  in  the  Persian  creed* — 
awed  into  subjection  the  various  isles,  until  it 
arrived  at  Eubea,  divided  but  by  a  strait  from 
Attica,  and  containing  the  city  of  the  Eretri- 
ans.  The  fleet  first  assailed  Carystus,  whose 
generous  citizens  refused  both  to  aid  against 
their  neighbors,  and  to  give  hostages  for  their 
conduct.  Closely  besieged,  and  their  lands 
wasted,  they  were  compelled,  however,  to  sur- 
render to  the  Persians.  Thence  the  victorious 
armament  passed  to  Eretria.  The  Athenians 
had  sent  to  the  relief  of  that  city  the  four  thou- 
sand colonists  whom  they  had  established  in 
the  island — but  fear,  jealousy,  division,  were 
within  the  walls.  Ruin  seemed  certain,  and 
a  chief  of  the  Eretrians  urged  the  colonists  to 
quit  a  city  which  they  were  unable  to  save. 
They  complied  with  the  advice,  and  reached 
Attica  in  safety.  Eretria,  however,  withstood 
a  siege  of  six  days;  on  the  seventh  the  city  was 
betrayed  to  the  Barbarians  by  two  of  that  fatal  IrlldL 
oligarchical  party,  who  in  every  Grecian  city 
seem  to  have  considered  no  enemy  so  detes- 
table as  the  majority  of  their  own  citizens; 
the  place  was  pillaged — the  temples  burned — 
the  inhabitants  enslaved.  Here  the  Persians 
rested  for  a  few  days  ere  they  embarked  for 
Attica. 


Thp   Sun  and  Moon. 


238 


THE  WORLD'S  GREAT  EVENTS 


■  X.  49» 


Unsupported  and  alone,  the  Athenians  were 
Athenians  not  dismaycd.  A  swift-footed  messenger  was 
fjflid  despatched  to  Sparta,  to  implore  its  prompt 
assistance.  The  resource  the  Athenians  had 
so  much  right  to  expect  failed  them.  The 
Spartans,  indeed,  resolved  to  assist  Athens, 
but  not  until  assistance  would  have  come  too 
late.  They  declared  that  their  religion  for- 
bade them  to  commence  a  march  till  the  moon 
was  at  her  full,  and  this  was  only  the  ninth 
day  of  the  month.  With  this  unsatisfying  re- 
ply, the  messenger  returned  to  Athens. 

The  mighty  thousands  of  the  Mede  and  Per- 
sian landed  on  the  Attic  coast,  and,  conducted 
by  Hippias  among  their  leaders,  marched  to 
the  plain  of  Marathon,  which  the  traveller  still 
beholds,  stretching  wide  and  level,  amid  hills 
and  marshes,  at  the  distance  of  only  ten  miles 
from  the  gates  of  Athens.  Along  the  shore 
the  plain  extends  to  the  length  of  six  miles — 
inland  it  exceeds  t\vo. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Athenians 
were  divided  into  ten  tribes  at  the  instigation 
of  Clisthenes.  Each  of  these  tribes  nominated 
a  general;  there  were  therefore  ten  leaders  to 
The  the  Athenian  army.  Among  them  was  Mil- 
comml^d-  tiades,  who  had  succeeded  in  ingratiating  him- 
self with  the  Athenian  people,  and  obtained 
from  their  suffrages  a  command. 

Aided  by  a  thousand  men  from  Platea,  then 
on  terms  of  intimate  friendship  with  the 
Athenians,  the  little  army  marched  from  the 


B.C.490        THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON         239 

city,  and  advanced  to  the  entrance  of  the  plain 
of  Marathon.  Here  they  arrayed  themselves 
in  martial  order,  near  the  temple  of  Hercules, 
to  the  east  of  the  hills  that  guard  the  upper 
part  of  the  valley.  Thus  encamped,  and  in 
sight  of  the  gigantic  power  of  the  enemy, 
darkening  the  long  expanse  that  skirts  the  sea,  fmongthe 
divisions  broke  out  among  the  leaders; — some  ^  ^^' 
contended  that  a  battle  was  by  no  means  to 
be  risked  with  such  inferior  forces — others, 
on  the  contrary,  were  for  giving  immediate 
battle.  Of  this  latter  advice  was  Miltiades — 
he  was  supported  by  a  man  already  of  high  re- 
pute, though  now  first  presented  to  our  notice, 
and  afterward  destined  to  act  a  great  and 
splendid  part  in  the  drama  of  his  times.  Aris- 
tides  was  one  of  the  generals  of  the  army,  and 
strenuously  co-operated  with  Miltiades  in  the 
policy  of  immediate  battle. 

The  arguments  of  Miltiades  convinced  Cal- 
limachus,  who  knew  well  the  many  divisions 
of  the  city,  the  strength  which  Hippias  and  the 
Pisistratidae  still  probably  possessed  within 
the  walls,  and  who  could  not  but  allow  that  a 
superior  force  becomes  ever  more  fearful  theMiuiades 
more  deliberately  it  is  regarded.  He  inter- '"^*''*'*^' 
posed  his  authority.  It  was  decided  to  give 
battle. 

On  the  night  before  Hippias  conducted  the 
Barbarians  to  the  plains  of  Marathon,  he  is 
said  to  have  dreamt  a  dream.  He  thought 
he  was  with  his  mother.     In  the  fondness  of 


240  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  490 


human  hopes  he  interpreted  the  vision  favor- 
ably, and  flattered  himself  that  he  should  re- 
gain his  authority,  and  die  in  his  own  house  of 
old  age.  The  morning  now  arrived  that  was 
to  attest  the  veracity  of  the  interpretation. 

To  the  left  of  the  Athenians  was  a  low  chain 
of  hills,  clothed  with  trees  (and  which  fur- 
nished them  timber  to  break  the  charge  of  the 
Persian  horse) — to  their  right  a  torrent; — 
their  front  was  long,  for  to  render  it  more  im- 
posing in  extent  and  to  prevent  being  out- 
Disgos't'on  flanked  by  the  Persian  numbers,  the  centre 
Athenian  j-^uks  Were  left  weak  and  shallow,  but  on 
either  wing  the  troops  were  drawn  up  more 
solidly  and  strong.  Callimachus,  the  Pole- 
march,  commanded  the  right  wing — the  Pla- 
teans  formed  the  left.  They  had  few,  if  any, 
horsemen  or  archers.  The  details  which  we 
possess  of  their  armband  military  array,  if  not 
in  this,  in  other  engagements  of  the  same  pe- 
riod, will  complete  the  picture.  We  may  be- 
hold them  clad  in  bright  armor,  well-proof 
and  tempered,  which  covered  breast  and  back 
— the  greaves,  so  often  mentioned  by  Homer, 
Appear-     wcre     Still     retained  —  their     helmets    were 

ance  ot  the 

Greeks,  wrought  and  crested,  the  cones  mostly  painted 
in  glowing  colors,  and  the  plumage  of  feath- 
ers or  horsehair  rich  and  waving,  in  propor- 
tion to  the  rank  of  the  wearer.  Broad,  sturdy, 
and  richlv  ornamented,  were  their  bucklers — 
the  pride  and  darling  of  their  arms,  the  loss 
of  which  was  the  loss  of  honor;  their  spears 


B.C.  49°  THE    BATTLE    OF    MARATHON  241 

were  ponderous,  thick,  and  long — a  chief  mark 
of  contradistinction  from  the  slight  shaft  of 
Persia — and,  with  their  short  broadsword, 
constituted  their  main  weapons  of  offence.  No 
Greek  army  marched  to  battle  without  vows, 
and  sacrifice,  and  prayer — and  now,  in  the 
stillness  of  the  pause,  the  soothsayers  exam- 
ined the  entrails  of  the  victims — they  were 
propitious,  and  Callimachus  solemnly  vowed 
to  Diana  a  victim  for  the  slaughter  of  every 
foe.  Loud  broke  the  trumpets* — the  stan- 
dards wrought  with  the  sacred  bird  of  Athens 'r*^^<=^^''i^« 
were  raised  on  high;t  it  was  the  signal  of 
battle — and  the  Athenians  rushed  with  an  im- 
petuous vehemence  upon  the  Persian  power. 
"The  first  Greeks  of  whom  I  have  heard,"  says 
the  simple  Halicarnassean,  "who  ever  ran  to 
attack  a  foe — the  first,  too,  who  ever  beheld 
without  dismay  the  garb  and  armor  of  the 
Medes;  for  hitherto  in  Greece  the  very  name 
of  Mede  had  excited  terror." 

When  the  Persian  army,  with  its  numerous 
horse,  animal  as  well  as  man  protected  by  plates 
of  mail — its  expert  bowmen — its  lines  and  deep 
files  of  turbaned  soldiers,  gorgeous  with  many 
a  blazing  standard — headed  by  leaders  well 
hardened,  despite  their  gay  garbs  and  adorned 
breast-plates,  on  many  a  more  even  field; — 
when,  I  say,  this  force  beheld  the  Athenians 

*  The  Goddess  of  Athens   was  supposed  to  have  invented 
a  peculiar  trumpet  used  by  her  favored  votaries. 
t  To  raise  the  standard  was  the  sign  of  battle.  y^^j    ^ 


242  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  490 


rushing  toward  them,  they  considered  them, 
thus  few,  and  destitute  alike  of  cavalry  and 
archers,  as  madmen  hurrying  to  destruction. 
Advan-  But  it  was  evidently  not  without  deliberate 
lrtfa*?kinff  calculation  that  Miltiades  had  so  commenced 
the  attack.  The  warlike  experience  of  his 
guerilla  life  had  taught  him  to  know  the  foe 
against  whom  he  fought.  To  volunteer  the 
assault  was  to  forestall  and  cripple  the  charge 
of  the  Persian  horse — besides,  the  long  lances, 
the  heavy  arms,  the  hand-to-hand  valor  of  the 
Greeks,  must  have  been  no  light  encounter  to 
the  more  weakly  mailed  and  less  formidably 
armed  infantry  of  the  East.  Accustomed 
themselves  to  give  the  charge,  it  was  a  novelty 
and  a  disadvantage  to  receive  it.  Long,  fierce 
and  stubborn  was  the  battle.  The  centre  wing 
of  the  Barbarians,  composed  of  the  Sacians 
and  the  pure  Persian  race,  at  length  pressed 
hard  upon  the  shallow  centre  of  the  Greeks, 
drove  them  back  into  the  country,  and,  eager 
with  pursuit,  left  their  own  wings  to  the 
charge  of  Callimachus  on  the  one  side  and  the 
Platean  forces  on  the  other.  The  brave  Pole- 
march,  after  the  most  signal  feats  of  valor, 
fell  fighting  in  the  field;  but  his  troops,  undis- 
mayed, smote  on  with  spear  and  sword.  The 
Barbarians  retreated  backward  to  the  sea, 
where  swamps  and  marshes  encumbered  their 
movements,  and  here  (though  the  Athenians 
did  not  pursue  them  far)  the  greater  portion 
were  slain,  hemmed  in  by  the  morasses,  and 


B.C.  49°  THE    BATTLE    OF    MARATHON  243 

probably   ridden   down  by  their  own   disor- 
dered  cavalry.     Meanwhile,   the   two   tribes  the  PeV° 

sians. 

that  had  formed  the  centre,  one  of  which  was 
commanded  by  Aristides,  retrieved  them- 
selves with  a  mighty  efifort,  and  the  two  wings, 
having  routed  their  antagonists,  now  inclining 
toward  each  other,  intercepted  the  Barbarian 
centre,  which,  thus  attacked  front  and  rear 
(large  trees  felled  and  scattered  over  the 
plain,  obstructing  the  movements  of  their 
cavalry),  was  defeated  with  prodigious 
slaughter.  Evening  came  on : — confused  and 
disorderly,  the  Persians  now  only  thought  of 
flight:  the  whole  army  retired  to  their  ships, 
hard  chased  by  the  Grecian  victors,  who  amid 
the  carnage  fired  the  fleet.  Cynegirus,  brother 
to  Eschylus,  the  tragic  poet  (himself  highly 
distinguished  for  his  feats  that  day),  seized 
one  of  the  vessels  by  the  poop:  his  hand  was 
severed  by  an  axe; — he  died  gloriously  of  his 
wounds.  But  to  none  did  the  fortunes  of  that^^^^^^^^^ 
field  open  a  more  illustrious  career  than  to  a^^^*""*^^ 
youth  of  the  tribe  Leontis,  in  whom,  though 
probably  then  but  a  simple  soldier  in  the 
ranks,  was  first  made  manifest  the  nature  and 
the  genius  destined  to  command.  The  name 
of  that  youth  was  Themistocles.  Seven  ves- 
sels were  captured — six  thousand  four  hun- 
dred of  the  Barbarians  fell  in  the  field — the 
Athenians  and  their  brave  ally  lost  only  one 
hundred  and  ninety-two;  but  among  them  per- 
ished many  of  their  bravest  nobles.    It  was  a 


244  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  dx.  490 

superstition  not  uncharacteristic  of  that  im- 
aginative people,  and  evincing  how  greatly 
their  ardor  was  aroused,  that  many  of  them 
(according  to  Plutarch)  fancied  they  beheld 
the  gigantic  shade  of  Theseus,  completely 
armed,  and  bearing  down  before  them  upon 
the  foe. 

So  perished  the  hopes  of  the  unfortunate 
Hippias; — obscure  and  inglorious  in  his  last 
hour,  the  exiled  prince  fell  confounded  amid 
the  general  slaughter. 

The  moon  had  passed  her  full,  when  two 
thousand  Spartans  arrived  at  Athens:  the  bat- 
tle was  over  and  the  victory  won;  but  so  great 
was  their  desire  to  see  the  bodies  of  the  for- 
midable Medes  that  they  proceeded  to  Mara-. 
The  Spar-  thott,  aud  retumiug  to  Athens,  swelled  the  tri- 
umph of  her  citizens  by  their  applause  and 
congratulations. 

The  marble  which  the  Persians  had  brought 
with  them,  in  order  to  erect  as  a  trophy  of  the 
victory  they  anticipated,  was,  at  a  subsequent 
period,  wrought  by  Phidias  into  a  statue  of 
Nemesis.  A  picture  of  the  battle,  represent- 
ing Miltiades  in  the  foremost  place,  and  sol- 
emnly preserved  in  public,  was  deemed  no  in- 
adequate reward  to  that  great  captain;  and 
yet,  conspicuous  above  the  level  plain  of 
Marathon,  rises  a  long  barrow,  fifteen  feet  in 
height,  the  supposed  sepulchre  of  the  Athe- 
nian heroes.  Still  does  a  romantic  legend,  not 
unfamiliar  with  our  traditions  of  the  north, 


tans  arrive. 


B.C.490        THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON         246 

give  a  supernatural  terror  to  the  spot.  Nightly 
along  the  plain  are  yet  heard  by  superstition 
the  neighings  of  chargers,  and  the  rushing 
shadows  of  spectral  war.  And  still,  through- 
out the  civilized  world  (civilized  how  much 
by  the  arts  and  lore  of  Athens!)  men  of  every 
clime,  of  every  political  persuasion,  feel  as 
Greeks  at  the  name  of  Marathon.  Later 
fields  have  presented  the  spectacle  of  an  equal 
valor,  and  almost  the  same  disparities  of 
slaughter;  but  never,  in  the  annals  of  earth, 
were  united  so  closely  in  our  applause,  ad- 
miration for  the  heroism  of  the  victors,  and 
sympathy  for  the  holiness  of  their  cause.  It 
was  the  first  great  victory  of  opinion!  and  its 
fruits  were  reaped,  not  by  Athens  only,  but  by 
all  Greece  then,  as  by  all  time  thereafter,  in 
a  mighty  and  imperishable  harvest — the  in- 
visible not  less  than  the  actual  force  of  despot- 
ism was  broken.  Nor  was  it  only  that  the  Marathon 
dread  which  had  hung  upon  the  Median  name  Sn""""*' 
was  dispelled — nor  that  free  states  were  taught 
their  pre-eminence  over  the  unwieldy  em- 
pires which  the  Persian  conquerors  had  de- 
stroyed,— a  greater  lesson  was  bestowed  on 
Greece,  when  she  discovered  that  the  mon- 
arch of  Asia  could  not  force  upon  a  petty  state 
the  fashion  of  its  government  or  the  selection 
of  its  rulers.  The  defeat  of  Hippias  was  of 
no  less  value  than  that  of  Darius,  and  the  same 
blow  which  struck  down  the  foreign  invader 
smote  also  the  hopes  of  domestic  tyrants. 


246  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  dc.  49* 

One  successful  battle  for  liberty  quickens 
and  exalts  that  proud  and  emulous  spirit  from 
a'^Jwnd"  which  are  called  forth  the  civilization  and 
the  arts  that  liberty  should  produce  more 
rapidly  than  centuries  of  repose.  To  Athens 
the  victory  of  Marathon  was  a  second  Solon. 


Solon. 


The  fleet 

returns. 


THE    BATTLE    OF    SALAMIS 

(B.C.  480) 

PLUTARCH 

THE  news  of  what  had  happened  at  Ther- 
mopylae being  brought  to  Artemisium, 
when  the  confederates  were  informed 
that  Leonidas  was  slain  there,  and  Xerxes  mas- 
ter of  the  passages  by  land,  they  sailed  back 
to  Greece;  and  the  Athenians,  elated  with 
their  late  distinguished  valor,  brought  up  the 
rear.  As  Themistocles  sailed  along  the  coasts, 
wherever  he  saw  any  harbors  or  places  proper 
for  the  enemy's  ships  to  put  in  at,  he  took  such 
stones  as  he  happened  to  find,  or  caused  to  be 
brought  thither  for  that  purpose,  and  set  them 
up  in  the  ports  and  watering  places,  with  the 
following  inscription  engraved  in  large  char- 
acters, and  addressed  to  the  lonians.  "Let 
the  lonians,  if  it  be  possible,  come  over  to  the 
Greeks,  from  whom  they  are  descended,  and 
who  now  risk  their  lives  for  their  liberty.  If 
this  be  impracticable,  let  them  at  least  perplex 
the  barbarians,  and  put  them  in  disorder  in 
time  of  action."  By  this  he  hoped  either  to 
bring  the  lonians  over  to  his  side,  or  to  sow 

(247) 


help. 


248  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  ^80 

discord  among  them,  by  causing  them  to  be 
suspected  by  the  Persians. 

Though  Xerxes  had  passed  through  Doris 
down  to  Phocis,  and  was  burning  and  destroy- 
ing the  Phocian  cities,  yet  the  Greeks  sent 
them  no  succors.  And,  notwithstanding  all 
^blain^no"  thc  cntrcatics  the  Athenians  could  use  to 
prevail  with  the  confederates  to  repair  with 
them  into  Beotia,  and  cover  the  frontiers  of 
Attica,  as  they  had  sent  a  fleet  to  Artemisium 
to  serve  the  common  cause,  no  one  gave  ear  to 
their  request.  All  eyes  were  turned  upon 
Peloponnesus,  and  all  were  determined  to 
collect  their  forces  within  the  Isthmus,  and 
to  build  a  wall  across  it  from  sea  to  sea.  The 
Athenians  were  greatly  incensed  to  see  them- 
selves thus  betrayed,  and,  at  the  same  time,  de- 
jected and  discouraged  at  so  general  a  defec- 
tion. They  alone  could  not  think  of  giving 
battle  to  so  prodigious  an  army.  To  quit  the 
city,  and  embark  on  board  their  ships,  was 
the  only  expedient  at  present;  and  this  the 
generality  were  very  unwilling  to  hearken  to, 
as  they  could  neither  have  any  great  ambition 
for  victory,  nor  idea  of  safety,  when  they  had 
left  the  temples  of  their  gods  and  the  monu- 
ments of  their  ancestors. 

Themistocles,  perceiving  that  he  could  not 
by  the  force  of  human  reason  prevail  with  the 
multitude,  set  his  machinery  to  work,  as  a 
poet  would  do  in  a  tragedy,  and  had  recourse 
to  prodigies   and   oracles.     The  prodigy  he 


B.C.480  THE    BATTLE    OF    SALAMIS  249 

availed  himself  of, was  the  disappearing  of  the 
dragon  of  Minerva,  which  at  that  time  quitted 
the  holy  place;  and  the  priests,  finding  the 
daily  offerings  set  before  it  untouched,  gave  it 
out  among  the  people,  at  the  suggestion  of  JesTiom 
Themistocles,  that  the  goddess  had  forsaken  ^°°'^''^^' 
the  city,  and  that  she  offered  to  conduct  them 
to  sea.  Moreover,  by  way  of  explaining  to 
the  people  an  oracle  then  received,  he  told 
them  that,  by  wooden  walls,  there  could  not 
possibly  be  any  thing  meant  but  ships;  and 
that  Apollo,  now  calling  Salamis  divine,  not 
wretched  and  unfortunate,  as  formerly,  signi- 
fied by  such  an  epithet  that  it  would  be  pro- 
ductive of  some  great  advantage  to  Greece. 
His  counsels  prevailed,  and  he  proposed  a  de- 
cree that  the  city  should  be  left  to  the  protec- 
tion of  Minerva,  the  tutelary  goddess  of  the 
Athenians;  that  the  young  men  should  go  on 
board  the  ships,  and  that  every  one  should 
provide  as  well  as  he  possibly  could  for  the 
safety  of  the  children,  the  women,  and  the 
slaves. 

When  this  decree  was  made,  most  of  the 
Athenians  removed  their  parents  and  wives  to 
Trezene,  where  they  were  received  with  a 
generous  hospitality. 

As  the  treasury  of  Athens  was  then  but  low, 
Aristotle  informs  us  that  the  court  of  Areopa- 
gus distributed  to  every  man  who  took  part  in 
the  expedition  eight  drachmas;  which  was  the 
principal  means  of  manning  the  fleet.     But 


260  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  bx.  480 

Clidemus  ascribes  this  also  to  a  stratagem  of 
Themistocles ;  for,  he  tells  us,  that  when  the 
Athenians  went  down  to  the  harbor  of  Pireus, 
the  Egis  was  lost  from  the  statue  of  Minerva; 
and  Themistocles,  as  he  ransacked  everything, 
under  pretence  of  searching  for  it,  found  large 
sums  of  money  hid  among  the  baggage,  which 
he  applied  to  the  public  use;  and  out  of  it  all 
necessaries  were  provided  for  the  fleet. 

The  embarkation  of  the  people  of  Athens 
The         was  a  very  affecting  scene.    What  pity!  what 
emteJk"*   admiration  of  the  firmness  of  those  men,  who, 
sending  their  parents  and  families  to  a  distant 
place,  unm.oved  with  their  cries,  their  tears, 
or  embraces,  had  the  fortitude  to  leave  the 
city,  and  embark  for  Salamis!    What  greatly 
heightened   the  distress,  was  the  number  of 
citizens  whom  they  were  forced  to  leave  be- 
hind, because  of  their  extreme  old  age.     And 
some  emotions  of  tenderness  were  due  even 
to  the  tame  domestic  animals,  which,  running 
to  the  shore,  with  lamentable  bowlings,  ex- 
pressed their  afifection  and  regret  for  the  per- 
xanthip-    sons  that  had  fed  them.     One  of  these,  a  dog 

pus  s  faith-  '  " 

fuidog.  that  belonged  to  Xanthippus,  the  father  of 
Pericles,  unwilling  to  be  left  behind,  is  said  to 
have  leaped  into  the  sea,  and  to  have  swum  by 
the  side  of  the  ship,  till  it  reached  Salamis, 
where,  quite  spent  with  toil,  it  died  immedi- 
ately. And  they  show  us  to  this  day  a  place 
called  Synos  Sema,  where  they  tell  us  that  dog 
was  buried. 


B.C.  480 


THE    BATTLE    OF    SALAMIS  251 


*  Eurybiades,  by  reason  of  the  dignity  of 
Sparta,  had  the  command  of  the  fleet;  but,  as 
he  was  apprehensive  af  the  danger,  he  pro- 
posed to  set  sail  for  the  Isthmus,  and  fix  his 
station  near  the  Peloponnesian  army.  The- 
mistocles,  however,  opposed  it. 

While  Themistocles  was  maintaining  his 
arguments  upon  deck,  some  tell  us  an  owl 
was  seen  flying  to  the  right  of  the  fleet,*  which 
came  and  perched  upon  the  shrouds.  This 
omen  determined  the  confederates  to  accede 
to  his  opinion,  and  to  prepare  for  a  sea  fight. 
But  no  sooner  did  the  enemy's  fleet  appear 
advancing  toward  the  harbor  of  Phalerius 
in  Attico,  and  covering  all  the  neighboring 
coasts,  while  Xerxes  himself  was  seen  march- 
ing  his   land   forces   to   the   shore,   than   thespTr'edby 

,.,,.,  ,  t"S  enemi 

Greeks,  struck  with  the  sight  of  such  prodig- 
ious armaments,  began  to  forget  the  counsel  of 
Themistocles,  and  the  Peloponnesians  once 
more  looked  toward  the  Isthmus.  Nay,  they 
resolved  to  set  sail  that  very  night,  and  such 
orders  were  given  to  all  the  pilots.  Themisto- 
cles, greatly  concerned  that  the  Greeks  were 
going  to  give  up  the  advantage  of  their  station 
in  the  straits,t  and  to  retire  to  their  respective 

*  The  owl  was  sacred  to  Minerva,  the  protectress  of  the 
Athenians 

f  If  the  confederates  had  quitted  the  Straits  of  Salamis, 
where  they  could  equal  the  Persians  in  the  line  of  battle,  such 
of  the  Athenians  as  were  on  that  island  must  have  become  an 
easy  prey  to  the  enemy ,  and  the  Persians  would  have  found 
an  open  sea  on  the  Peloponnesian  coast,  where  they  could  act 
with  all  their  force  against  the  ships  of  the  allies. 


Terror  in- 
ed  by 
enemy. 


252  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  bx.  480 

countries,  contrived  that  stratagem  which  was 
put  in  execution  by  Sicinus.  This  Sicinus  was 
of  Persian  extraction,  and  a  captive,  but  much 
attached  to  Thcmistocles,  and  the  tutor  of  his 
children.  On  this  occasion  Themistocles  sent 
him  privately  to  the  King  of  Persia,  with  or- 
ders to  tell  him  that  the  commander  of  the 
Athenians,  having  espoused  his  interest,  was 
the  first  to  inform  him  of  the  intended  flight 
of  the  Greeks;  and  that  he  exhorted  him  not 
to  suffer  them  to  escape;  but  while  they  were 
in  this  confusion,  and  at  a  distance  from  their 
land  forces,  to  attack  and  destroy  their  whole 
army. 

Xerxes  took  this  information  kindly,  sup- 
posing it  to  proceed  from  friendship,  and  im- 
mediately gave  orders  to  his  officers,  with  two 
hundred  ships,  to  surround  all  the  passages, 
and  to  inclose  the  islands,  that  none  of  the 
Greeks  might  escape,  and  then  to  follow  with 
the  rest  of  the  ships  at  their  leisure.  Aristides, 
the  son  of  Lysimachus,  was  the  first  that  per- 
ceived this  motio*n  of  the  enemy;  and  though 
he  was  not  in  friendship  with  Themistocles, 
but  had  been  banished  by  his  means,  he  went 
to  him,  and  told  him  they  were  surrounded 
by  the  enemy.*  Themistocles,  knowing  his 
probity,  and  charmed  with  his  coming  to  give 
this  intelligence,  acquainted  him  with  the  af- 


*  Aristides  was  not  then  in  the  confederate  fleet,  but  in  the 
isle  of  Egina,  from  whence  he  sailed  by  night,  with  great 
hazard,   through  the   Persian  fleet,  to  carry  this   intelligence. 


Xerxes  is 
deceived. 


B.C.480  THE    BATTLE    OF    SALAMIS  253 

fair  of  Sicinus,  and  entreated  him  to  lend  his 
assistance  to  keep  the  Greeks  in  their  station; 
and,  as  they  had  a  confidence  in  his  honor,  to 
persuade  them  to  come  to  an  engagement  in 
the  straits.  Aristides  approved  the  proceed- 
ings of  Themistocles,  and  going  to  the  other 
admirals  and  captains,  encouraged  them  to 
engage. 

As  soon  as  it  was  day,  Xerxes  sat  down  on 
an  eminence  to  view  the  fleet  and  its  order  of  xerxes 

watches  the 

battle.  He  placed  himself,  as  Phanodemus  ^^"'^• 
writes,  above  the  temple  of  Hercules,  where 
the  isle  of  Salamis  is  separated  from  Attica  by 
a  narrow  frith;  but  according  to  Acestodorus, 
on  the  confines  of  Megara,  upon  a  spot  called 
Kerata,  the  horns.  He  was  seated  on  a 
throne  of  gold,*  and  had  many  secretaries 
about  him,  whose  business  it  was  to  write 
down  the  particulars  of  the  action. 

In  the  meantime,  as  Themistocles  was  sac- 
rificing on  the  deck  of  the  admiral-galley, 
three  captives  were  brought  to  him  of  un- 
common beauty,  elegantly  attired,  and  set  off 
with  golden  ornaments.  They  were  said  to 
be  the  sons  of  Autarctus  and  Sandace,  sister 
to  Xerxes.  Euphrantide,  the  soothsayer,  cast- 
ing his  eye  upon  them,  and  at  the  same  time 
observing  that  a  bright  flame  blazed  out  from 


*  This  throne  or  seat,  whether  of  gold  or  silver,  or  both, 
was  taken  and  carried  to  Athens,  where  it  was  consecrated  in 
the  temple  of  the  Minerva,  with  the  golden  sabre  of  Mar- 
donius,  which  was  taken  afterward  in  the  battle  of  Platea. 


254:  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  480 

the  victims,*  while  a  sneezing  was  heard  from 

the  right,  took  Themistocles  by  the  hand,  and 
Thcmisto-  ,      ^     ',  ,        ,  ,        ,        ,  J   , 

ciessacri-   ordcrcd  that  the  three  youths  should  be  con- 

hccs  the  -' 

xTrxir"^  sec  rated  and  sacrificed  to  Bacchus  Omestes, 
for  by  this  means  the  Greeks  might  be  as- 
sured not  only  of  safety,  but  victory. 

Themistocles  was  astonished  at  the  strange- 
ness and  cruelty  of  the  order;  but  the  multi- 
tude, who,  in  great  and  pressing  difficulties, 
trust  rather  to  absurd  than  rational  methods, 
invoked  the  god  with  one  voice,  and  leading 
the  captives  to  the  altar,  insisted  upon  their 
being  oflfered  up,  as  the  soothsayer  had  di- 
rected. 
As  to  the  number  of  the  Persian  ships,  the 

rhe'fllefs  P°^^  Eschylus  speaks  of  it,  in  his  tragedy 
entitled  Persae,  as  a  matter  he  was  well 
assured  of: 

A  thousand  ships  (for  well  I  know  the  number) 
The   Persian  flag  obey'd :   two  hundred  more 
•  And  seven,  o'erspread  the  seas. 

The  Athenians  had  only  one  hundred  and 
eighty  galleys;  each  carried  eighteen  men  that 
fought  upon  deck,  four  of  whom  were  archers, 
and  the  rest  heavy  armed. 

If  Themistocles  was  happy  in  choosing  a 

*  A  bright  flame  was  always  considered  as  a  fortunate 
omen,  whether  it  were  a  real  one  issuing  from  an  altar,  or 
a  seeming  one  (what  we  call  shell-fire)  from  the  head  of  a 
living  person.  Virgil  mentions  one  of  the  latter  sort,  which 
appeared  about  the  head  of  Julus  and  Florus,  another  that 
A  s  seen  about  the  head  of  Servius  TuUius.  A  sneezing  on 
the  right  hand,  too,  was  deemed  a  lucky  omen  both  by  the 
Greeks  and  Latins. 


■.C.480  THE    BATTLE    OF   SALAMIS  255 

place  for  action,  he  was  no  less  so  in  taking 
advantage  of  a  proper  time  for  it;  for  he 
would  not  engage  the  enemy  till  that  time  of 
day  when  a  brisk  wind  usually  arises  from  the 
sea,  which  occasions  a  high  surf  in  the  chan- 
nel. This  was  no  inconvenience  to  the  Gre- 
cian vessels,  which  were  low  built  and  well 
compacted;  but  a  very  great  one  to  the  Per- 
sian ships,  which  had  high  sterns  and  lofty 
decks,  and  were  heavy  and  unwieldy;  for  it 
caused  them  to  veer  in  such  a  manner  that 
their  sides  were  exposed  to  the  Greeks,  who 
attacked  them  furiously.  During  the  whole 
dispute,  great  attention  was  given  to  the  mo- 
tions of  Themistocles,  as  it  was  believed  he 
knew  best  how  to  proceed.  Ariamenes,  the 
Persian  admiral,  a  man  of  distinguished  The  bauie. 
honor,  and  by  far  the  bravest  of  the  king's 
brothers,  directed  his  manoeuvres  chiefly 
against  him.  His  ship  was  very  tall,  and  from 
thence  he  threw  darts  and  shot  forth  arrows 
as  from  the  walls  of  a  castle.  But  Aminias 
the  Decelean,  and  Sosicles  the  Pedian,  who 
sailed  in  one  bottom,  bore  down  upon  him 
with  their  prow,  and  both  ships  meeting,  they 
were  fastened  together  by  means  of  their 
brazen  beaks;  when  Ariamenes  boarding  their 
galley,  they  received  him  with  their  pikes,  and 
pushed  him  into  the  sea.     Artemisia*  knew 

*  Artemisia,  Queen  of  Halicarnassus,  distinguished  herself 
above  all  the  rest  of  the  Persian  forces,  her  ships  being  the 
last  that  fled,  which  Xerxes  observing,  cried  out  that  the  men 


256  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.^so 

the  body  among  others  that  were  floating  with 
the  wreck,  and  carried  it  to  Xerxes. 

While  the  fight  was  thus  raging,  we  are  told 
a  great  light  appeared,  as  from  Eleusis;  and 
loud  sounds  and  voices  were  heard  through  all 
the  plain  of  Thriasia  to  the  sea,  as  of  a  great 
number  of  people  carrying  the  mystic  symbols 
of  Bacchus  in  procession.*  A  cloud,  too, 
seemed  to  rise  from  among  the  crowd  that 
made  this  noise,  and  to  ascend  by  degrees,  till 
Apparitions  it  fell  upon  thc  galleys.  Other  phantoms  also 
thl"ba"u?^  and  apparitions  of  armed  men,  they  thought 
they  saw,  stretching  out  their  hands  from 
Egina  before  the  Grecian  fleet.  These  they 
conjectured  to  be  the  Eacidae,t  to  whom,  be- 
fore the  battle,  they  had  addressed  their 
prayers  for  succor. 

The  first  man  that  took  a  ship  was  an  Athe- 


behaved  like  women,  and  the  women  with  the  courage  and 
intrepidity  of  men.  The  Athenians  were  so  incensed  against 
her  that  they  offered  a  reward  of  ten  thousand  drachmas  to 
any  one  that  should  take  her  alive.  This  princess  must  not 
be  confounded  with  that  Artemisia  who  was  the  wife  of 
Mausojas,  king  of  Caria. 

*  Herodotus  says,  these  voices  were  heard,  and  this  vision 
seen,  some  days  before  the  battle,  while  the  Persian  land 
forces  were  ravaging  the  territories  of  Attica.  Diceus,  an 
Athenian  exile  (who  hoped  thereby  to  procure  a  mitigation  of 
his  country's  fate),  was  the  first  that  observed  the  thing,  and 
carried  an  account  of  it  to  Xerxes. 

t  A  vessel  had  been  sent  to  Egina  to  implore  the  assistance 
of  Ecus  and  his  descendants.  Ecus  was  the  son  of  Jupiter, 
and  had  been  king  of  Egina.  He  was  so  remarkable  for  his 
justice,  that  his  prayers,  while  he  lived,  are  said  to  have  pro- 
cured great  advantages  to  the  Greeks;  and,  after  his  death,  it 
was  believed  that  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  three  judges  in 
the  infernal  regions. 


B.C.  48o  THE    BATTLE    OF    SALAMIS  257 

nian  named  Lycomedes,  captain  of  a  galley, 
who  cut  down  the  ensigns  from  the  enemy's 
ship,  and  consecrated  them  to  the  laurelled 
Apollo.    As  the  Persians  could  come  up  in  the  The  Per. 

,  /■  .  If  t    sians  are 

Straits  but  few  at  a  time,  and  often  put  each  defeated. 
other  in  confusion,  the  Greeks  equalling  them 
in  the  line,  fought  them  till  the  evening,  when 
they  broke  them  entirely,  and  gained  that  sig- 
nal and  complete  victory,  than  which  (as 
Simonides  says)  no  other  naval  achievement, 
either  of  the  Greeks  or  barbarians,  ever  was 
more  glorious.  This  success  was  owing  to  the 
valor,  indeed,  of  all  the  confederates,  but 
chiefly  to  the  sagacity  and  conduct  of  The- 
mistocles.* 

After  the  battle,  Xerxes,  full  of  indigna- 
tion at  his  disappointment,  attempted  to  join  Xerxes 
Salamis  to  the  continent,  by  a  mole  so  well  se-  Heulspom. 
cured  that  his  land  forces  might  pass  over  it 
into  the  island,  and  that  he  might  shut  up  the 
pass  entirely  against  the  Greeks.  At  the  same 
time,  Themistocles,  to  sound  Aristides,  pre- 
tended it  was  his  own  opinion  that  they  should 
sail  to  the  Hellespont,  and  break  down  the 
bridge  of  ships:  "For  so,"  says  he,  "we  may 
take  Asia,  without  stirring  out  of  Europe." 
Aristides  did  not  in  the  least  relish  his  pro- 
posal, but  answered  him  to  this  purpose:  "Till 
now  we  have  had  to  do  with  an  enemy  im- 


*  In  this  battle,  which  was  one  of  the  most  memorable  we 
find  in  history,  the  Grecians  lost  forty  ships,  and  the  Persians 
two  hundred,  besides  a  great  many  more  that  were  taken. 


258  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c..8o 

mersed  in  luxury;  but  if  we  shut  him  up  in 
Greece,  and  drive  him  to  necessity,  he  who 
is  master  of  such  prodigious  forces  will  no 
longer  sit  under  a  golden  canopy,  and  be  a 
quiet  spectator  of  the  proceedings  of  the  war, 
but,  awaked  by  danger,  attempting  every- 
aSm!  thing,  and  present  everywhere,  he  will  cor- 
rect his  past  errors,  and  follow  counsels  better 
calculated  for  success.  Instead,  therefore,  of 
breaking  that  bridge,  we  should,  if  possible, 
provide  another,  that  he  may  retire  the  sooner 
out  of  Europe."  "If  that  is  the  case,"  said 
Themistocles,  "we  must  all  consider  and  cort- 
trive  how  to  put  him  upon  the  most  speedy 
retreat  out  of  Greece." 

This  being  resolved  upon,  he  sent  one  of 
the  king's  eunuchs,  whom  he  found  among 
the  prisoners,  Arnaces  by  name,  to  acquaint 
him,  "That  the  Greeks,  since  their  victory  at 
sea,  were  determined  to  sail  to  the  Hellespont, 
and  destroy  the  bridge;  but  that  Themistocles, 
in  care  for  the  king's  safety,  advised  him  to 
hasten  toward  his  own  seas,  and  pass  over  into 
Asia,  while  his  friend  endeavored  to  find  out 
t'^eltstnto  pretences  of  delay,  to  prevent  the  confederates 
^^'^'  from  pursuing  him."  Xerxes,  terrified  at  the 
news,  retired  with  the  greatest  precipitation.* 


*  Xerxes,  having  left  Mardonius  in  Greece  with  an  army  of 
three  hundred  thousand  men,  marched  with  the  rest  toward 
Thrace,  in  order  to  cross  the  Hellespont.  As  no  provisions 
had  been  prepared  beforehand,  his  army  underwent  great 
hardships  durmg  the  whole  time  of  his  march,  which  lasted 
five-and- forty    days.     The   king,    finding   they   were   not   in   a 


B.C.  480 


THE    BATTLE    OF    SALAMIS  259 


How  prudent  the  management  of  Themisto- 
cles  and  Aristides  was,  Mardonius  afforded  a 
proof,  when,  with  a  small  part  of  the  king's 
forces,  he  put  the  Greeks  in  extreme  danger  of 
losing  all  in  the  battle  of  Platea. 

[In  479,  the  allied  Greeks  won  the  great 
battle  of  Platea,  and  on  the  same  day  they 
captured  the  camp  of  Mycale.  Samos,  Les- 
bos, and  Chios  and  many  Greek  colonies  on  Athens  and 
the  coast  of  Asia  Minor  then  joined  the  Hel-  ^^'^' 
lenic  League,  and  carried  on  an  offensive  war 
against  the  Persians  till  449.  In  475,  the 
leadership  was  transferred  from  Sparta  to 
Athens,  and  the  Hellenic  Confederacy,  with 
the  temple  of  Apollo  in  Delos  as  a  religious 
centre,  was  formed.  Cimon,  the  admiral  of 
the  League,  defeated  the  Persian  army  and 
fleet  in  the  battle  of  Eurymedon  in  465.  The 
constantly  growing  power  of  Athens  excited 
the  jealousy  of  her  allies  and  led  to  war  against 
the  Spartans  and  Beotians  (457-451).  In 
445,  peace  was  concluded  for  thirty  years  be- 
tween Athens  and  Sparta.  In  462,  the  quar- 
rels in  Rome  between  the  plebeians  and  p^-^nf^^ 
tricians  culminated  in  a  period  of  anarchy  Rome'" 
lasting  for  ten  years.     This  was  ended  by  the 

condition  to  pursue  their  route  so  expeditiously  as  he  desired, 
advanced  with  a  small  retinue;  but,  when  he  arrived  at  the 
Hellespont,  he  found  his  bridge  of  boats  broken  down  by  the 
violence  of  the  storms,  and  was  reduced  to  the  necessity  of 
crossing  over  in  a  fishing  boat.  From  the  Hellespont  he  con- 
tinued his  flight  to  Sardis. 


260  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  „.c.  480 

drawing  up  of  a  famous  code  of  laws  known 
as  the  Twelve  Tables,  and  the  appointment 

The  '  .     . 

Decemviri,  of  tco  patficians  called  the  Decemviri,  whose 
government,  however,  lasted  only  two  years. 
Rome  had  gradually  been  gathering  strength 
at  the  expense  of  her  neighbors  in  wars  with 
the  southern  Etruscans,  Volscians,  and  Equi.] 


FALL    OF    THE    DECEMVIRATE 

(B.C.  449) 

CHARLES   MERIVALE 

THE  agrarian  laws  of  the  earlier  tribunes 
had  taken,  it  would  seem,  little  effect; 
but  the  people  acquiesced  in  their  dis- 
appointment perhaps  the  rhore  readily  because 
the  territory  for  division  had  rather  dimin- 
ished than  increased,  and  in  the  face  of  the 
constant  ravages  of  the  enemy  had  for  the 
most  part  become  less  an  object  of  greed.  On 
another  point,  however,  the  plebeians  had  a  Grievances 
real  grievance,  and  to  this  they  now  more  di-  plebeians. 
rectly  addressed  themselves.  The  civil  law  of 
Rome  at  this  period  was  the  law  of  the  primi- 
tive race,  the  law  of  the  patricians  only,  and 
the  patricians  alone  claimed  the  right  of  ex- 
pounding it.  In  their  dealings  with  one  an- 
other the  plebeians  might  follow acommon law 
or  custom  of  their  own ;  but  as  against  the  rival 
order,  the  real  masters  of  the  state,  or,  as  they 
still  asserted  of  themselves,  the  state  itself,  the 
commons,  as  the  inferior  or  vassal  race,  had  no 
standing  in  the  law  courts.  The  grand  object 
now  at  last  presented  itself  to  the  most  large- 
minded  of  the  plebeian  chiefs  to  effect  the  fu- 

(261) 


262        THE  WORLD'S  GREAT  EVENTS 


B.C.  449 


sion  of  the  Quiritary  law,  the  primitive  code 
of  the  patricians,  w4th  the  equity  or  usage  of 
the  classes  beneath,  or  now  more  truly  beside 
Dissensions  them.  Thc  tribune  Tercntilius  Harsa  took 
violence,  thc  lead  in  this  bold  and  politic  movement. 
He  began  by  proposing  in  the  year  462  that  a 
commission  of  five  or  ten  persons  should  be 
appointed  to  define  the  power  of  the  consuls, 
which  was  no  less  arbitrary  in  the  tribunals  at 
home  than  in  the  camp  beyond  the  walls.  The 
measure  was  of  course  delayed  and  thwarted. 
Foreign  perils  as  well  as  internal  dissension 
prevailed  for  a  long  time  against  it.  Within 
the  city  this  dissension  broke  out  into  open  vio- 
lence. In  460,  the  faction  of  the  commons,  un- 
der the  daring  lead  of  the  Sabine,  Appius  Her- 
donius,  actually  seized  the  Capitol  by  night, 
and  was  dislodged  not  without  bloodshed. 
Keso  Quinctius,  the  son  of  Cincinnatus,  dis- 
tinguished himself  for  at  least  equal  violence 
on  the  other  side;  but  Virginius  the  tribune 
accused  him  before  the  people,  and  he  only 
escaped  the  penalty  of  death  by  taking  refuge 
in  exile.  It  was,  indeed,  the  large  fine  which 
the  father  paid  for  him  on  this  occasion  that 
reduced  Cincinnatus  to  the  poverty  which  was 
thus  doubly  honorable  to  him.  But  the  ple- 
beians were  the  gainers  by  this  struggle.  In 
454,  the  tribune  Icilius  carried  a  measure  for 
surrendering  to  the  poorer  commons  the  whole 

The  Aven  =•  ^ 

.ineHiii.    of  the  Aventine  Hill,  which  was  public  do- 
main, and  which  became  from  this  time  en- 


B.C.  449 


FALL    OF    THE    DECEMVIRATE  263 


tirely  occupied  by  the  second  order.  The 
Aventine,  the  loftiest,  and,  next  to  the  Capito- 
line,  reputed  the  strongest  eminence  in  Rome, 
now  constituted  the  citadel  of  the  plebeians, 
and  henceforth  greatly  increased  their  politi- 
cal consideration. 

The  plebeians  boasted  moreover  a  champion 
of  their  own  to  rival  the  prowess  of  a  Corio- 

T       r\  T^  Dentatus, 

lanus  or  a  Cincinnatus.  L.  Sicinius  Dentatus '^^5^^°^^ 
was  one  of  a  family  which  had  led  the  people 
to  the  Mons  Sacer,  and  made  the  most  vigor- 
ous attacks  on  the  patricians  in  their  behalf. 
He  was  so  distinguished  for  his  personal  valor 
as  to  have  been  designated  the  Roman  Achil- 
les ;  but,  unlike  the  hero  whom  a  special  charm 
had  rendered  invulnerable  except  in  his  heel, 
he  had  received  no  less  than  forty-five  wounds 
in  front  in  the  hundred  and  twenty  battles  in 
which  he  had  been  engaged.  The  rewards 
he  had  gained  and  the  triumphs  in  which  he 
had  partaken  were  in  due  proportion  to  his 
merits  and  his  sufferings.  As  tribune  in  the 
year  452  he  gained  a  victory  over  the  oppo- 
nents of  his  party,  and  compelled  them  at  last 
to  concede  the  measure  pressed  upon  them  by 
Terentilius.  To  himself,  indeed,  this  victory 
was  fatal,  for  the  patricians  vowed  to  get  rid 
of  him  by  any  means;  and  at  no  distant  period 
Q.  Fabius,  who  commanded  the  army,  caused 
him  to  be  despatched  by  a  band  of  soldiers 
with  whom  he  was  sent  to  reconnoitre  the  ene- 
my.    But  his  popular  policy  did  not  fail  to 


864  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  449 

bear  fruit.  Three  commissioners — a  Postumi- 
sionersto  US,  2L  Maiilius,  and  a  Sulpicius,  all  patricians 
Greckiavvs — wcrc  scnt  to  study  and  report  on  the  civil 
laws  of  the  Greeks.  Whether,  as  the  Romans 
of  a  later  age  imagined,  they  were  actually  de- 
puted to  visit  Greece  proper  and  Athens,  the 
headquarters  of  public  law  in  Greece,  or 
whether  their  journey  was  really  limited  to 
the  peoples  of  Greek  descent  in  the  south  of 
Italy,  we  may  accept  the  general  truth  of  this 
curious  incident,  and  conclude  that  at  this  pe- 
riod Rome  did  actually  seek  for  principles  of 
wise  and  liberal  legislation  from  the  superior 
civilization,  not  of  the  Etruscans  or  the  Car- 
thaginians, but  of  the  Greeks. 

The  salutary  reformation  thus  begun  rolled 
on  apace.  In  the  year  450  the  consuls,  the 
tribunes,  the  aediles,  and  the  questors,  all  the 
great  magistrates  of  the  city  of  either  party, 
were  summarily  superseded  by  the  ten  com- 
missioners, who,  under  the  title  of  Decemvirs, 
were  appointed  to  prepare  the  new  code.  To 
facilitate  the  movement  the  plebeians  were 
content  to  waive  the  most  precious  of  their 
conquests,  the  right  of  appeal  from  the  con- 
suls, while  they  acceded  to  the  claim  of  the  pa- 
tricians, as  recognized  expounders  of  the  ex- 
isting law,  to  occupy  all  the  places  in  the  com- 
Decemvirs.  mission  that  should  revise  it.  On  March  15 
that  year  the  decemvirs  entered  on  their  office, 
and  each  of  them  exercised  supreme  authority 
with  the  lictors  and  its  other  insignia  day  by 


B.C.  449 


FALL    OF    THE    DECEMVIRATE  265 


day  in  turn.  The  leading  spirit  among  them 
was  one  Appius  Claudius,  according  to  some 
accounts  the  same  whose  boldness  and  haughti- 
ness have  been  before  noticed;  but  if  the  ac- 
counts we  have  followed  be  at  all  trustworthy, 
the  elder  Appius  had  perished  twenty  years 
earlier,  and  the  chief  of  the  decemvirs  was 
another  doubtless  of  the  same  race  and  of  kin- 
dred spirit.  The  fanatical  pride  of  the  Appii 
Claudii  (the  nomen  and  the  prenomen  were 
generally  borne  together)  was  for  many  hun- 
dred years  a  constant  tradition  of  Roman  story. 
At  first,  indeed,  these  new  magistrates  are 
said  to  have  borne  their  honors  meekly,  and  to 
have  taken  measures  to  secure  the  favor  of  the 
whole  body  of  the  people  to  their  legislation. 
They  promulgated  in  the  course  of  the  year 
ten  tables  of  enactments  compiled  on  the 
principles  of  Grecian  jurisprudence.  During 
their  second  year  of  office,  however,  when 
some  of  the  more  moderate  of  their  number 
had  given  place  to  successors  of  a  fiercer  spirit,  TheTweive 
the  prejudices  of  Appius  prevailed,  and  two 
more  tables  were  set  forth,  which  altogether 
failed  to  obtain  general  approbation.  Then 
it  was  that  these  ten  tyrants,  as  they  came  to 
be  regarded,  constrained  the  people  to  go  forth 
to  battle,  and  effected  by  treachery  the  slaugh- 
ter of  their  hero  Dentatus.  But  it  was  the  per- 
sonal and  more  domestic  crime  of  the  cruel 
Appius  that  raised  the  people  at  last  in  fury 
against  them.      The  well-known  tragedy  of 

12  Vol.  1 


266  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.449 

Virginia  need  only  be  glanced  at.  Daughter 
vWnu  of  the  noble  plebeian  Virginius,  she  was  be- 
trothed to  the  not  less  noble  Icilius.  Appius, 
inflamed  with  loose  passion,  sought  to  obtain 
her  person  by  setting  one  of  his  clients  to  claim 
her  as  his  own  slave.  Her  friends  appealed 
to  the  law  and  to  testimony;  but  the  audacious 
violence  of  the  decemvir  prevailed,  and  Vir- 
ginia was  adjudged  to  the  wicked  claimant, 
when  her  father,  despairing  of  redress,  took 
her  for  a  moment  aside  from  the  crowd  to  the 
booths  which  skirted  the  Forum,  and  laying 
hold  of  a  butcher's  knife  struck  her  dead  at 
his  feet.  This  done,  he  rushed  away  to  the 
camp,  proclaimed  the  deed  to  the  legions,  and 
prevailed  on  them  to  break  up  from  their 
outposts  on  the  frontier,  hasten  back  to  Rome, 
and  occupy  their  stronghold  on  the  Aventine. 
There  or  on  the  Mons  Sacer  they  collected  a 
vast  following  of  the  citizens,  and  combining 
with  the  forces  of  the  Sabines,  defied  in  full 
revolt  the  tyranny  of  their  rulers.  The  de- 
cemvirs made  a  faint  show  of  reducing  the 
people  to  obedience.  But  they  felt  that  the 
general  sentiment  was  against  them,  and  speed- 
ily relinquished  their  power.  Two  of  the 
number,  however,  Valerius  and  Horatius,  re- 
paired to  the  popular  stronghold,  and  prom- 
ised the  restoration  of  the  tribunate  and  the 
right  of  appeal.  The  comitia  were  held  and 
tribunes  elected  for  the  plebeians,  while  Vale- 
rius and  Horatius  succeeded,  as  they  so  well 


B.C.  449 


FALL    OF    THE    DECEMVIRATE  267 


deserved,  to  the  consulship.  The  liberties  of 
the  people  were  assured  by  several  enactments ; 
but  vengeance  was  still  due  to  the  blood  which 
had  been  shed.  Virginius  accused  the  decem- 
virs.    Appius  killed  himself  in  the  prison  to 

■■^  *  ^  Suicide  of 

which  he  had  been  consigned.  Oppius  did^^^'^y^^'*'^ 
the  same.  The  others  fled  self-banished,  and 
their  property  was  confiscated.  After  this  an 
amnesty  was  proclaimed.  The  whole  nation, 
now  firmly  united,  gained  a  decisive  victory 
over  the  Equians  and  the  Sabines.  Never- 
theless the  Senate,  which  had  hitherto  exer- 
cised the  sole  right  of  according  triumphs, 
refused  the  honor,  and  it  was  by  a  special  and 
irregular  decree  of  the  people  that  the  pop- 
ular consuls  mounted  to  the  Capitol.  Such 
was  one  of  the  steps  by  which  the  tribunes 
slowly  raised  their  order  to  an  equal  position 
with  their  rivals. 

The  law  of  Terentilius,  as  has  been  said, 

The  new 

was  directed  to  the  establishment  of  new  prin-  i^^s. 
ciples  of  legislation  in  the  interest  of  the  ple- 
beians. We  are  tempted  to  suppose  that  it 
was  intended  to  place  the  two  orders  under  a 
common  law  as  regarded  their  personal  and 
proprietary,  if  not  as  yet  their  political  rights 
also.  For  so,  undoubtedly,  the  Grecian  states, 
which  were  to  furnish  the  model  of  the  new 
system,  were  already  in  a  more  advanced  so- 
cial state  when  the  political  pretensions  of  the 
different  orders  out  of  which  they  had  origi- 
nally sprung  had  become  fused  for  the  most 


268  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  449 


part  together.  But  the  slender  fragments  that 
remain  to  us  of  the  laws  of  the  Twelve  Tables 
go  but  a  little  way  to  justify  this  conception; 
nor  do  the  references  made  to  them  by  the  Ro- 
mans themselves  at  a  later  period,  when  they 
were  still  in  living  force,  and  might  be  called 
by  Livy  "the  spring  of  all  public  and  private 
law,"  seem  to  bear  it  out.  We  can  see,  in- 
deed, or  seem  to  see,  that  in  these  enactments 
lay  the  foundation  of  the  later  Roman  law; 
and  if  it  were  the  purpose  of  these  pages  to 
give  a  full  antiquarian  history  of  Roman  life 
and  manners,  it  would  be  well  to  take  this  op- 
portunity of  explaining  the  groundwork  at 
least  of  the  Jus  Civile;  but  the  connection 
between  them  and  the  circumstances  out  of 
which  they  are  stated  to  have  arisen — the  ri- 
valries, namely,  of  patricians  and  plebeians, 
and  their  conflicting  claims  and  jealousies — 
seems  actually  so  slight  that  it  can  only  disap- 
point close  scrutiny.  It  was  no  quarrel  of 
Absolute  class  against  class  that  was  adjusted  by  the 
theXthir.  laws  which  specially  secured  to  the  father  of 
a  family  his  absolute  power  over  his  slaves, 
his  children,  his  wife,  and  his  property.  The 
interests,  indeed,  of  the  plebeians  might  be 
somewhat  more  concerned  with  the  enact- 
ments now  made  for  the  protection  of  the 
clients  against  the  neglect  of  their  patrons; 
for  the  clients  of  the  patricians  were  gradually 
escaping  from  their  patrons'  authority,  and 
throwing  in  their  lot  more  and  more  with  the 


B.C.  449 


FALL    OF    THE    DECEMVIRATE  269 


plebeians.  Some  provisions  that  were  now 
effected  for  the  security  of  property,  and  for 
giving  the  actual  possessor  the  fee  simple  after 
a  short  unopposed  occupation,  may  indicate 
the  gradual  advance  of  the  low^er  order  in 
territorial  proprietorship;  but  the  protection 
which  the  law  was  made  to  afford  to  property 
generally,  as  compared  with  that  which  it  ex- 
tended to  the  person,  applied  to  all  classes 
equally.  It  bespeaks  the  character  of  the  Ro- 
man people,  who  could  be  trusted  to  defend 
themselves,  but  while  constantly  called  away 
to  serve  their  country  were  often  obliged  to 
leave  home  and  land  undefended;  but  it  tells 
us  nothing  of  the  relative  position  of  orders 
and  classes  among  them.  On  the  whole  we 
must  conclude,  from  a  review  of  what  little  personal 
is  known  to  us  of  the  decemviral  legislation, 
that  it  was  to  the  personal  equality  of  all 
classes  in  the  eye  of  the  law  rather  than  to 
the  equalizing  of  political  privileges  that  it 
pointed.  The  poor  citizen  was  protected  by 
special  enactment  against  the  usurious  exac- 
tions of  the  wealthy  creditor,  the  feeble  was 
defended  against  the  strong  man  in  the  law 
courts,  the  false  witness  and  the  corrupt  judge 
were  subjected  to  summary  punishment,  ap- 
peal was  given  to  the  people  in  full  assembly 
against  the  unjust  sentence  of  the  patrician 
magistrate,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  people 
themselves  were  enabled,  by  a  popular  sen- 
tence, to  inflict  capital  punishment.     Doubt- 


270  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  449 


less  the  importance  of  the  comitia  of  the  cen- 
turies was  enhanced  by  such  an  authority  con- 
ceded to  it;  but  the  centuries,  as  we  have  seen, 
represented  wealth,  in  the  tribes  it  was  num- 
ber alone  that  prevailed,  and  a  great  revolu- 
tionary principle  was  sanctioned  in  the  decree 
that  whatever  the  comitia  of  the  tribes  should 
determine  should  have  the  force  of  law  for 
all  the  citizens.  Hitherto  the  decision  of  the 
tribes  could  bind  the  plebeians  only.  In  the 
face  of  such  a  power  the  comitia  of  the  curies 
and  the  centuries  soon  gave  way  altogether. 

[From  444  to  429,  Athens  prospered  under 
Athenssuc- the  brilliant  rule  of   Pericles.      In  471,  the 

cumbs  to  '^     ' 

Sparta.  envy  of  the  Dorian  confederacy  and  the  ambi- 
tion of  Athens  led  to  the  outbreak  of  the  Pel- 
oponnesian  War.  During  this  war,  Athens 
suffered  terribly  from  the  ravages  of  plague, 
to  which,  among  others,  Pericles  fell  a  victim. 
The  war  ended  with  the  surrender  of  Athens 
in  404  and  the  consequent  supremacy  of 
Sparta.] 


THE    PLAGUE    AT    ATHENS 

(B.C.  420) 

THUCYDIDES 

AS  soon  as  summer  returned,  the  Pelopon- 
nesian  army,  comprising,  as  before, 
two-thirds  of  the  force  of  each  con- 
federate state,  under  the  command  of  the 
Lacederfionian  king,  Archidamus,  the  son  of 
Zeuxidamus,  invaded  Attica,  where  they  es- 
tablished themselves  and  ravaged  the  country. 
They  had  not  been  there  many  days  when  the  outbreak 
plague  broke  out  at  Athens  for  the  first  time.p'^^^ 
A  similar  disorder  is  said  to  have  previously 
smitten  many  places,  particularly  Lemnos, 
but  there  is  no  record  of  such  a  pestilence  oc- 
curring elsewhere,  or  of  so  great  a  destruction 
of  human  life.  For  a  while  physicians,  in  ig- 
norance of  the  nature  of  the  disease,  sought  to 
apply  remedies;  but  it  was  in  vain,  and  they 
themselves  were  among  the  first  victims,  be- 
cause they  oftenest  came  into  contact  with  it. 
No  human  art  was  of  any  avail,  and  as  to  sup- 
plications in  temples,  inquiries  of  oracles,  and 
the  like,  they  were  utterly  useless,  and  at  last 
men  were  overpowered  by  the  calamity  and 
gave  them  all  up. 

(271) 


272  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  4ao 

The  disease  is  said  to  have  begun  south  of 
thc^ile^ase.  Egypt  in  Ethiopia;  thence  it  descended  into 
Egypt  and  Libya,  and  after  spreading  over 
the  greater  part  of  the  Persian  empire,  sud- 
denly fell  upon  Athens.  It  first  attacked  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Pireus,  and  it  was  supposed 
that  the  Peloponnesians  had  poisoned  the  cis- 
terns, no  conduits  having  as  yet  been  made 
there.  It  afterward  reached  the  upper  city, 
and  then  the  mortality  became  far  greater. 
As  to  its  probable  origin,  or  the  causes  which 
might  or  could  have  produced  such  a  dis- 
turbance of  nature,  every  man,  whether  a  phy- 
sician or  not,  will  give  his  own  opinion.  But 
I  shall  describe  its  actual  course,  and  the  symp- 
toms by  which  any  one  who  knows  them  be- 
forehand may  recognize  the  disorder  should 
it  ever  reappear.  For  I  was  myself  attacked, 
and  witnessed  the  sufferings  of  others. 

The  season  was  admitted  to  have  been  re- 
markably free  from  ordinary  sickness;  and  if 
anybody  was  already  ill  of  any  other  disease, 
Character-  it  was  absorbcd  in  this.  Many  who  were  in 
IhTdisease.  pcrfcct  health,  all  in  a  moment,  and  without 
any  apparent  reason,  were  seized  with  violent 
heats  in  the  head  and  with  redness  and  inflam- 
mation of  the  eyes.  Internally  the  throat  and 
the  tongue  were  quickly  suffused  with  blood, 
and  the  breath  became  unnatural  and  fetid. 
There  followed  sneezing  and  hoarseness;  in 
a  short  time  the  disorder,  accompanied  by  a 
violent  cough,  reached  the  chest;  then  fasten- 


B.C.420  THE  PLAGUE  AT  ATHENS  273 

ing  lower  down,  it  would  move  the  stomach 
and  bring  on  all  the  vomits  of  bile  to  which 
physicians  have  ever  given  names;  and  they 
were  very  distressing.  An  ineffectual  retch- 
ing, producing  violent  convulsions,  attacked 
most  of  the  sufferers;  some  as  soon  as  the  pre- 
vious symptoms  had  abated,  others  not  until 
long  afterward.  The  body,  externally,  was 
not  so  very  hot  to  the  touch,  nor  yet  pale;  it 
was  of  a  livid  color  inclining  to  red,  and  break- 
ing out  in  pustules  and  ulcers.  But  the  in- 
ternal fever  was  intense;  the  sufferers  could 
not  bear  to  have  on  them  even  the  finest  linen 
garment;  they  insisted  on  being  naked,  and 
there  was  nothing  which  they  longed  for  more 
eagerly  than  to  throw  themselves  into  cold 
water.  And  many  of  those  who  had  no  onexerribie 
to  look  after  them  actually  plunged  into  the 
cisterns,  for  they  were  tormented  by  unceas- 
ing thirst,  which  was  not  in  the  least  assuaged 
whether  they  drank  little  or  much.  They 
could  not  sleep ;  a  restlessness  which  was  in- 
tolerable never  left  them.  While  the  disease 
was  at  its  height  the  body,  instead  of  wasting 
away,  held  out  amid  these  sufferings  in  a  mar- 
vellous manner,  and  either  they  died  on  the 
seventh  or  ninth  day,  not  of  weakness,  for 
their  strength  was  not  exhausted,  but  of  in- 
ternal fever;  which  was  the  end  of  most;  or, 
if  they  survived,  then  the  disease  descended 
into  the  bowels  and  there  produced  violent 
ulceration;  severe  diarrhoea  at  the  same  time 


274  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  •c  4«» 

set  in,  and  at  a  later  stage  caused  exhaustion, 
which  finally,  with  few  exceptions,  carried 
them  off.  For  the  disorder  which  had  origi- 
nally settled  in  the  head  passed  gradually 
through  the  whole  body,  and  if  a  person  got 
over  the  worst,  would  often  seize  the  extremi- 
ties and  leave  its  mark,  attacking  the  privy 
parts  and  the  fingers  and  the  toes;  and  some 
escaped  with  the  loss  of  these,  some  with  the 
loss  of  their  eyes.  Some  again  had  no  sooner 
recovered  than  they  were  seized  with  a  for- 
getfulness  of  all  things  and  knew  neither 
themselves  nor  their  friends. 

The  malady  took  a  form  not  to  be  described, 
and  the  fury  with  which  it  fastened  upon  each 
sufferer  was  too  much  for  human  nature  to 
Birds  and  cndurc.  Thcre  was  one  circumstance  in  par- 
avmd^the  ticular  which  distinguished  it  from  ordinary 
diseases.  The  birds  and  animals  which  feed 
on  human  flesh,  although  so  many  bodies  were 
lying  unburied,  either  never  came  near  them, 
or  died  if  they  touched  them.  This  was 
proved  by  a  remarkable  disappearance  of  the 
birds  of  prey,  who  were  not  to  be  seen  either 
about  the  bodies  or  anywhere  else;  while  in 
the  case  of  the  dogs  the  fact  was  even  more 
obvious,  because  they  live  with  man. 

Such  was  the  general  nature  of  the  disease: 
I  omit  many  strange  peculiarities  which  char- 
acterized individual  cases.  None  of  the  ordi- 
nary sicknesses  attacked  any  one  while  it 
lasted,   or,    if    they   did,    they   ended    in   the 


corpses. 


B.C.  420  THE    PLAGUE    AT    ATHENS  276 

plague.  Some  of  the  sufferers  died  from  want 
of  care,  others  equally  who  were  receiving  the 
greatest  attention.  No  single  remedy  could 
be  deemed  a  specific;  for  that  which  did  good 
to  one  did  harm  to  another.  No  constitution 
was  of  itself  strong  enough  to  resist  or  weak 
enough  to  escape  the  attacks;  the  disease  car- 
ried ofif  all  alike  and  defied  every  mode  of 
treatment.  Most  appalling  was  the  despon- 
dency which  seized  upon  any  one  who  felt 
himself  sickening;  for  he  instantly  abandoned 
his  mind  to  despair,  and,  instead  of  holding 
out,  absolutely  threw  away  his  chance  of  life.  ^t^'^^^Lh 
Appalling  too  was  the  rapidity  with  which  tioVsprekd. 
men  caught  the  infection;  dying  like  sheep  if 
they  attended  on  one  another;  and  this  was 
the  principal  cause  of  mortality.  When  they 
were  afraid  to  visit  one  another,  the  sufferers 
died  in  their  solitude,  so  that  many  houses 
were  empty  because  there  had  been  no  one  left 
to  take  care  of  the  sick;  or  if  they  ventured 
they  perished,  especially  those  who  aspired  to 
heroism.  For  they  went  to  see  their  friends 
without  thought  of  themselves  and  were 
ashamed  to  leave  them,  even  at  a  time  when 
the  very  relations  of  the  dying  were  at  last 
growing  weary  and  ceased  to  make  lamenta- 
tions, overwhelmed  by  the  vastness  of  the  ca- 
lamity. But  whatever  instances  there  may 
have  been  of  such  devotion,  more  often  the 
sick  and  the  dying  were  tended  by  the  pitying 
care  of  those  who  had  recovered,  because  they 


276 


THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  430 


knew  the  course  of  the  disease  and  were  them- 
selves free  from  apprehension.  For  no  one 
was  ever  attacked  a  second  time,  or  not  with 
a  fatal  result.  All  men  congratulated  them, 
and  they  themselves,  in  the  excess  of  their  joy 
at  the  moment,  had  an  innocent  fancy  that  they 
could  not  die  of  any  other  sickness. 

The  crowding  of  the  people  out  of  the  coun- 

^jowding  try  mto  the  city  aggravated  the  misery;  and 
the  newly-arrived  suffered  most.  For,  having 
no  houses  of  their  own,  but  inhabiting  in  the 
height  of  summer  stifling  huts,  the  mortality 
among  them  was  dreadful,  and  they  perished 
in  wild  disorder.  The  dead  lay  as  they  had 
died,  one  upon  another,  while  others  hardly 
alive  wallowed  in  the  streets  and  crawled 
about  every  fountain  craving  for  water.  The 
temples  in  which  they  lodged  were  full  of 
corpses  of  those  who  died  in  them;  for  the 
violence  of  the  calamity  was  such  that  men, 
not  knowing  where  to  turn,  grew  reckless  of 
all  law,  human  and  divine.  The  customs 
which  had  hitherto  been  observed  at  funerals 

Violation    were   universally  violated,    and   they  buried 

of  ancient  .  •' 

°^  their  dead  each  one  as  best  he  could.  Maiiy, 
having  no  proper  appliances,  because  the 
deaths  in  their  households  had  been  so  fre- 
quent, made  no  scruple  of  using  the  burial- 
place  of  others.  When  one  man  had  raised 
a  funeral  pile,  others  would  come,  and  throw- 
ing on  their  dead  first,  set  fire  to  it;  or  when 
some  other  corpse  was  already  burning,  before 


customs 
burial. 


B.C.420         THE  PLAGUE  AT  ATHENS  277 

they  could  be  stopped  would  throw  their  own 
dead  upon  it  and  depart. 

There  were  other  and  worse  forms  of  law- 
lessness which  the  plague  introduced  at  Ath- 
ens. Men  who  had  hitherto  concealed  their 
indulgence  in  pleasure  now  grew  bolder.  For, 
seeing  the  sudden  change — how  the  rich  died 
in  a  moment,  and  those  who  had  nothing  im- 
mediately inherited  their  property — they  re-^m^^^j 
fleeted  that  life  and  riches  were  alike  transi- fo"us''re-^' 
tory,  and  they  resolved  to  enjoy  themselves  asippeak'^ 
they  could  and  think  only  of  pleasure.  Who 
would  be  willing  to  sacrifice  himself  to  the 
law  of  honor  when  he  knew  not  whether  he 
would  ever  live  to  be  held  in  honor?  The 
pleasure  of  the  moment,  and  any  sort  "of  thing 
which  conduced  to  it,  took  the  place  both  of 
honor  and  expediency.  No  fear  of  God  or 
law  of  man  deterred  a  criminal.  Those  who 
saw  all  perishing  alike,  thought  that  the  wor- 
ship or  neglect  of  the  gods  made  no  differ- 
ence. For  offences  against  human  law  no 
punishment  was  to  be  feared;  no  one  would 
live  long  enough  to  be  called  to  account.  Al- 
ready a  far  heavier  sentence  had  been  passed 
and  was  hanging  over  a  man's  head;  before 
that  fell  why  should  he  not  take  a  little 
pleasure? 

Such  was  the  grievous  calamity  which  now 
afflicted  the  Athenians:  within  the  walls  their 
people  were  dying,  and  without,  their  coun- 
try was  being  ravaged.     In  their  troubles  they 


ancient 
oracle. 


278  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  420 

naturally  called  to  mind  a  verse  which  the 
elder  men  among  them  declared  to  have  been 
current  long  ago: — 

"A  Dorian  war  will  come,  and  a  plague  with  it" 

There  was  a  dispute  about  the  precise  ex- 
anckm"  pression;  some  saymg  that  limos,  a  famine, 
and  not  loimos,  a  plague,  was  the  word.  Nev- 
ertheless, as  might  have  been  expected,  for 
men's  memories  reflected  their  sufferings,  the 
argument  in  favor  of  loimos  prevailed  at  the 
time.  But  if  ever  in  future  years  another  Do- 
rian war  arises  which  happens  to  be  accom- 
panied by  a  famine,  they  will  probably  repeat 
the  verse  in  the  other  form.  The  answer  of  the 
oracle  to  the  Lacedemonians  when  the  god 
was  asked  "whether  they  should  go  to  war  or 
not,"  and  he  replied  "that  if  they  fought  with 
all  their  might,  they  would  conquer,  and  that 
he  himself  would  take  their  part,"  was  not 
forgotten  by  those  who  had  heard  of  it,  and 
they  quite  imagined  that  they  were  witness- 
ing the  fulfilment  of  his  words.  The  disease 
certainly  did  set  in  immediately  after  the  in- 
vasion of  the  Peloponnesians,  and  did  not 
spread  into  Peloponnesus  in  any  degree  worth 
speaking  of,  while  Athens  felt  its  ravages  most 
severely,  and  next  to  Athens  the  places  which 
were  most  populous.  Such  was  the  history 
of  the  plague. 


SIEGE    OF    SYRACUSE 

(B.C.  415) 

E.    S.    CREASY 

A  CITY  built  close  to  the  sea,  like  Syra- 
cuse, was  impregnable,  save  by  the 
combined  operations  of  a  superior 
hostile  fleet  and  a  superior  hostile  army;  and 
Syracuse,  from  her  size,  her  population,  and 
her  military  and  naval  resources,  not  unnatu- besieged, 
rally  thought  herself  secure  from  finding  in 
another  Greek  city  a  foe  capable  of  sending 
a  sufficient  armament  to  menace  her  with  cap- 
ture and  subjection.  But  in  the  spring  of  B.C. 
414,  the  Athenian  navy  was  mistress  of  her 
harbor  and  the  adjacent  seas;  an  Athenian 
army  had  defeated  her  troops,  and  cooped 
them  within  the  town;  and  from  bay  to  bay 
a  blockading  wall  was  being  rapidly  carried 
across  the  strips  of  level  ground  and  the  high 
ridge  outside  the  city  (then  termed  Epipolae), 
which,  if  completed,  would  have  cut  the  Syra- 
cusans  ofif  from  all  succor  from  the  interior 
of  Sicily,  and  have  left  them  at  the  mercy  of 
the  Athenian  generals.  The  besiegers'  works 
were,  indeed,  unfinished;  but  every  day  the 

(279) 


280  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.   4IS 


aggrression. 


unfortified  interval  in  their  lines  grew  nar- 
rower, and  with  it  diminished  all  apparent 
hope  of  safety  for  the  beleaguered  town. 
Athenian  Athens  was  now  staking  the  flower  of  her 
forces,  and  the  accumulated  fruits  of  seventy 
years  of  glory,  on  one  bold  throw  for  the  do- 
minion of  the  Western  world. 

At  Marathon  we  beheld  Athens  struggling 
for  self-preservation  against  the  invading 
armies  of  the  East.  At  Syracuse  she  appears 
as  the  ambitious  and  oppressive  invader  of 
others.  In  her,  as  in  other  republics  of  old 
and  of  modern  times,  the  same  energy  that 
had  inspired  the  most  heroic  efforts  in  de- 
fence of  the  national  independence,  soon 
learned  to  employ  itself  in  daring  and  unscru- 
pulous schemes  of  self-aggrandizement  at  the 
expense  of  neighboring  nations.  In  the  inter- 
val between  the  Persian  and  the  Peloponne- 
sian  wars  she  had  rapidly  grown  into  a  con- 
quering and  dominant  state,  the  chief  of  a 
thousand  tributary  cities,  and  the  mistress  of 
the  largest  and  best-manned  navy  that  the 
Mediterranean  had  yet  beheld.  The  occupa- 
tions of  her  territory  by  Xerxes  and  Mardo- 
nius,  in  the  second  Persian  war,  had  forced  her 
whole  population  to  become  mariners;  and 
the  glorious  results  of  that  struggle  confirmed 
them  in  their  zeal  for  their  country's  service 
at  sea.  The  voluntary  suffrage  of  the  Greek 
cities  of  the  coasts  and  islands  of  the  Egean 
first  placed  Athens  at  the  head  of  the  confed- 


Athenians 
all  sailors. 


B.C.  41S 


SIEGE    OF   SYRACUSE  281 


eration  formed  for  the  further  prosecution  of 
the  war  against  Persia.  But  this  titular  as- 
cendency was  soon  converted  by  her  into  prac- 
tical and  arbitrary  dominion.  She  protected 
them  from  piracy  and  the  Persian  power, 
which  soon  fell  into  decrepitude  and  decay,  - 
but  she  exacted  in  return  implicit  obedience 
to  herself.  She  claimed  and  enforced  a  pre- 
rogative of  taxing  them  at  her  discretion,  and 
proudly  refused  to  be  accountable  for  her 
mode  of  expending  their  supplies.  Remon- 
strance against  her  assessments  was  treated  as 
factious  disloyalty,  and  refusal  to  pay  was 
promptly  punished  as  revolt.  Permitting  and 
encouraging  her  subject  allies  to  furnish  all 
their  contingents  in  money,  instead  of  part 
consisting  of  ships  and  men,  the  sovereign  re- 
public gained  the  double  object  of  training 
her  own  citizens  by  constant  and  well-paid 
service  in  her  fleets,  and  of  seeing  her  confed- 
erates lose  their  skill  and  discipline  by  inac- 
tion, and  become  more  and  more  passive  and 
powerless  under  her  yoke. 

All  republics  that  acquire  supremacy  over 
other  nations  rule  them  selfishly  and  oppres-^^^^|jJ,°p- 
sively.  There  is  no  exception  to  this  in  either 
ancient  or  modern"  times.  Carthage,  Rome, 
Venice,  Genoa,  Florence,  Pisa,  Holland,  and 
Republican  France,  all  tyrannized  over  every 
province  and  subject  state  where  they  gained 
authority.  But  none  of  them  openly  avowed 
their  system  of  doing  so  upon  principle  with 


282  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  B.t.,.s 

the  candor  which  the  Athenian  republicans 
displayed  when  any  remonstrance  was  made 
against  the  severe  exactions  which  they  im- 
posed upon  their  vassal  allies.  They  avowed 
that  their  empire  was  a  tyranny,  and  frankly 
stated  that  they  solely  trusted  to  force  and  ter- 
ror to  uphold  it.  They  appealed  to  what  they 
called  "the  eternal  law  of  nature,  that  the 
weak  should  be  coerced  by  the  strong."  Some- 
times they  stated,  and  not  without  some  truth, 
that  the  unjust  hatred  of  Sparta  against  them- 
selves forced  them  to  be  unjust  to  others  in 
self-defence.  To  be  safe,  they  must  be  power- 
ful; and  to  be  powerful,  they  must  plunder 
and  coerce  their  neighbors. 

Her  great  political  dramatist  speaks  of  the 
Athenian  empire  as  comprehending  a  thou- 
sand states.  The  language  of  the  stage  must 
not  be  taken  too  literally;  but  the  number  of 
Affs.**  "^  the  dependencies  of  Athens,  at  the  time  when 
the  Peloponnesian  confederacy  attacked  her, 
was  undoubtedly  very  great.  With  a  few 
trifling  exceptions,  all  the  islands  of  the 
Egean,  and  all  the  Greek  cities,  which  in  that 
age  fringed  the  coasts  of  Asia  Minor,  the  Hel- 
lespont and  Thrace,  paid  tribute  to  Athens, 
and  implicitly  obeyed  her  orders.  The  Egean 
Sea  was  an  Attic  lake.  Westward  of  Greece, 
her  influence,  though  strong,  was  not  equally 
predominant.  She  had  colonies  and  allies 
among  the  wealthy  and  populous  Greek  set- 
tlements in  Sicily  and  South  Italy,  but  she  had 


B.C.  415  SIEGE    OF   SYRACUSE  283 

no  organized  system  of  confederates  in  those 
regions ;  and  her  galleys  brought  her  no  tribute  con^eder- 

1         TTT  rr^i  •  /•    I  acy  formed. 

from  the  Western  seas.  The  extension  of  her 
empire  over  Sicily  was  the  favorite  project 
of  her  ambitious  orators  and  generals.  When 
her  bitterest  enemies,  the  Corinthians,  suc- 
ceeded, in  B.C.  431,  in  inducing  Sparta  to  at- 
tack her,  and  a  confederacy  was  formed  of 
five-sixths  of  the  continental  Greeks,  all  ani- 
mated by  anxious  jealousy  and  bitter  hatred 
of  Athens;  when  armies  far  superior  in  num- 
bers and  equipment  to  those  which  had 
marched  against  the  Persians  were  poured 
into  the  Athenian  territory,  and  laid  it  waste 
to  the  city  walls,  the  general  opinion  was  that 
Athens  would  be  reduced,  in  two  or  three 
years  at  the  furthest,  to  submit  to  the  requi- 
sitions of  her  invaders. 

Athens  accepted  the  war  with  which  her 
enemies  threatened  her  rather  than  descend  Athens  suf- 
f rom  her  pride  of  place ;  and  though  the  awful  calamities. 
visitation  of  the  Plague  came  upon  her,  and 
swept  away  more  of  her  citizens  than  the 
Dorian  spear  laid  low,  she  held  her  own  gal- 
lantly against  her  enemies.  If  the  Pelopon- 
nesian  armies  in  irresistible  strength  wasted 
every  spring  her  cornlands,  her  vineyards, 
and  her  olive  groves  with  fire  and  sword,  she 
retaliated  on  their  coasts  with  her  fleets; 
which,  if  resisted,  were  only  resisted  to  dis- 
play the  pre-eminent  skill  and  bravery  of  her 
seamen.     Some  of  her  subject  allies  revolted, 


284  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  415 

but  the  revolts  were  in  general  sternly  and 
promptly  quelled.  The  genius  of  one  enemy 
had  indeed  inflicted  blows  on  her  power  in 
Thrace  which  she  was  unable  to  remedy;  but 
he  fell  in  battle  in  the  tenth  year  of  the  war, 
and  with  the  loss  of  Brasidas  the  Lacede- 
monians seemed  to  have  lost  all  energy  and 
judgment.  Both  sides  at  length  grew  weary 
yikre"war.  of  the  war,  and  in  421  a  truce  for  fifty  years 
was  concluded,  which,  though  ill  kept,  and 
though  many  of  the  confederates  of  Sparta 
refused  to  recognize  it,  and  hostilities  still 
continued  in  many  parts  of  Greece,  protected 
the  Athenian  territory  from  the  ravages  of 
enemies,  and  enabled  Athens  to  accumulate 
large  sums  out  of  the  proceeds  of  her  annual 
revenues.  So  also,  as  a  few  years  passed  by, 
the  havoc  which  the  pestilence  and  the  sword 
had  made  in  her  population  was  repaired ;  and 
in  B.C.  415  Athens  was  full  of  bold  and  restless 
spirits,  who  longed  for  some  field  of  distant 
enterprise  wherein  they  might  signalize  them- 
selves and  aggrandize  the  state,  and  who 
looked  on  the  alarm  of  Spartan  hostility  as  a 
mere  old  woman's  tale. 

The  West  was  now  the  quarter  toward 
which  the  thoughts  of  every  aspiring  Athe- 
nian were  directed.  From  the  very  beginning 
Athens  of  the  war  Athens  had  kept  up  an  interest  in 
s?cii5%  Sicily,  and  her  squadron  had,  from  time  to 
time,  appeared  on  its  coasts  and  taken  part  in 
the  discussions  in  which  the  Sicilian  Greeks 


B.C.  415 


SIEGE    OF    SYRACUSE  285 


were  universally  engaged  one  against  each 
other.  There  were  plausible  grounds  for  a 
direct  quarrel,  and  an  open  attack  by  the 
Athenians  upon  Syracuse. 

With  the  capture  of  Syracuse,  all  Sicily, 
it  was  hoped,  would  be  secured.  CartHage 
and  Italy  were  next  to  be  attacked.  With 
large  levies  of  Iberian  mercenaries  she  then 
meant  to  overwhelm  her  Peloponnesian  ene- 
mies. The  Persian  monarchy  lay  in  hopeless 
imbecility,  inviting  Greek  invasion;  nor  did 
the  known  world  contain  the  power  that 
seemed  capable  of  checking  the  growing 
might  of  Athens,  if  Syracuse  once  could  be 
hers. 

The  armament  which  the  Athenians  The  Athe- 
equipped  against  Syracuse  was  in  every  way"'^""^"' 
worthy  of  the  state  which  formed  such  proj- 
ects of  universal  empire,  and  it  has  been  truly 
termed  "the  noblest  that  ever  yet  had  been 
set  forth  by  a  free  and  civilized  common- 
wealth." The  fleet  consisted  of  one  hundred 
and  thirty-four  war-galleys,  with  a  multitude 
of  store-ships.  A  powerful  force  of  the  best 
heavy-armed  infantry  that  Athens  and  her 
allies  could  furnish  was  sent  on  board  it,  to- 
gether with  a  smaller  number  of  slingers  and 
bowmen.  The  quality  of  the  forces  was  even 
more  remarkable  than  the  number.  The  zeal 
of  individuals  vied  with  that  of  the  republic 
in  giving  every  galley  the  best  possible  crew, 
and  every  troop  the  most  perfect  accoutre- 


286  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


■c  415 


ments.  And  with  private  as  well  as  public 
wealth  eagerly  lavished  on  all  that  could  give 
splendor  as  well  as  efficiency  to  the  expedi- 
tion, the  fatal  fleet  began  its  voyage  for  the 
Sicilian  shores  in  the  summer  of  415. 

Of  the  three  generals  who  led  the  Athenian 
Mhenian  cxpcdition,  two  only  were  men  of  ability,  and 
generals.  ^^^  ^^^  most  wcak  and  incompetent.  Fortu- 
nately for  Syracuse,  Alcibiades,  the  most  skil- 
ful of  the  three,  was  soon  deposed  from  his 
command  by  a  factious  and  fanatic  vote  of 
his  fellow-countrymen,  and  the  other  compe- 
tent one,  Lamachus,  fell  early  in  a  skirmish; 
while,  more  fortunately  still  for  her,  the  feeble 
and  vacillating  Nicias  remained  unrecalled 
and  unhurt,  to  assume  the  undivided  leader- 
ship of  the  Athenian  army  and  fleet,  and  to 
mar,  by  alternate  over-caution  and  over-care- 
lessness, every  chance  of  success  which  the 
early  part  of  the  operations  offered.  Still, 
even  under  him,  the  Athenians  nearly  won  the 
town.  They  defeated  the  raw  levies  of  the 
Syracusans,  cooped  them  wnthin  the  walls, 
and,  as  before  mentioned,  almost  effected  a 
continuous  fortification  from  bay  to  bay  over 
Epipolae,  the  completion  of  which  would  cer- 
tainly have  been  followed  by  a  capitulation. 
Alcibiades,  the  most  complete  example  of 
genius  without  principle  that  history  .pro- 
AidbSdes.  duces,  but  with  high  military  talents  super- 
added to  diplomatic  oratorical  powers,  on 
being  summoned  home  from  his  command  in 


B.C.  415  SIEGE    OF   SYRACUSE  287 

Sicily  to  take  his  trial  before  the  Athenian 
tribunal,  had  escaped  to  Sparta,  and  had  ex- 
erted himself  there  with  all  the  selfish  rancor 
of  a  renegade  to  renew  the  war  with  Athens, 
and  to  send  instant  assistance  to  Syracuse. 

The  renegade  then  proceeded  to  urge  on 
them  the  necessity  of  encouraging  their  friends 
in  Sicily,  by  showing  that  they  themselves 
were  in  earnest  in  hostility  to  Athens.  He  ex- 
horted them  not  only  to  march  their  armies 
into  Attica  again,  but  to  take  up  a  permanent 
fortified  position  in  the  country;  but  he  gave 
them  in  detail  information  of  all  that  the  Athe- 
nians most  dreaded,  and  how  his  country 
might  receive  the  most  distressing  and  endur- 
ing injury  at  their  hands. 

The  Spartans  resolved  to  act  on  his  advice, 
and  appointed  Gylippus  to  the  Sicilian  com-spana 
mand.  His  country  gave  him  neither  men  gyhppus. 
nor  money,  but  she  gave  him  her  authority; 
and  the  influence  of  her  name  and  of  his 
own  talents  was  speedily  seen  in  the  zeal  with 
which  the  Corinthians  and  other  Pelopon- 
nesian  Greeks  began  to  equip  a  squadron  to 
act  under  him  for  the  rescue  of  Sicily.  As 
soon  as  four  galleys  were  ready,  he  hurried 
over  with  them. 

The  sight  of  actual  succor,  and  the  promise 
of  more,  revived  the  drooping  spirits  of  the 
Syracusans.  They  felt  that  they  were  not  left 
desolate  to  perish,  and  the  tidings  that  a  Spar- 
tan was  coming  to  command  them  confirmed 


288  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


I.e.  .«i5 


their  resolution  to  continue  their  resistance. 
Gylippus  was  already  near  the  city.  He  had 
learned  at  Locri  that  the  first  report  which 
had  reached  him  of  the  state  of  Syracuse  was 
exaggerated,  and  that  there  was  unfinished 
space  in  the  besiegers'  lines  through  which 
it  was  barely  possible  to  introduce  reinforce- 
ments into  the  town.  Crossing  the  Straits  of 
Messina,  which  the  culpable  negligence  of 
Nicias  had  left  unguarded,  Gylippus  landed 
on  the  northern  coast  of  Sicily,  and  there  be- 
gan to  collect  from  the  Greek  cities  an  army, 
of  which  the  regular  troops  that  he  brought 
from  Peloponnesus  formed  the  nucleus.  Such 
was  the  influence  of  the  name  of  Sparta,  and 
such  were  his  own  abilities  and  activity,  that 
he  succeeded  in  raising  a  force  of  about  two 
thousand  fully  armed  infantry,  with  a  larger 
number  of  irregular  troops.  Nicias,  as  if  in- 
S'yof  fatuated,  made  no  attempt  to  counteract  his 
operations,  nor,  when  Gylippus  marched  his 
little  army  toward  Syracuse,  did  the  Athenian 
commander  endeavor  to  check  him.  The 
Syracusans  marched  out  to  meet  him;  and 
while  the  Athenians  were  solely  intent  on  com- 
pleting their  fortifications  on  the  southern  side 
toward  the  harbor,  Gylippus  turned  their  po- 
sition by  occupying  the  high  ground  in  the 
extreme  rear  of  Epipolae.  He  then  marched 
through  the  unfortified  interval  of  Nicias's 
lines  into  the  besieged  town,  and  joining  his 
troops  with  the  Syracusan  forces,  after  some 


B.C.  415 


SIEGE    OF   SYRACUSE  289 


engagements  with  varying  success,  gained  the 
mastery  over  Nicias,  drove  the  Athenians 
from  Epipolae,  and  hemmed  them  into  a  dis- 
advantageous position  in  the  low  grounds 
near  the  great  harbor. 

The  attention  of  all  Greece  was  now  fixed 
on  Syracuse;  and  every  enemy  of  Athens  feltrecdvef 
the  importance  of  the  opportunity  now  offered  °'"^"^'  • 
of  checking  her  ambition,  and,  perhaps,  of 
striking  a  deadly  blow  at  her  power.  Large 
reinforcements  from  Corinth,  Thebes,  and 
other  cities  now  reached  the  Syracusans,  while 
the  baffled  and  dispirited  Athenian  general 
earnestly  besought  his  countrymen  to  recall 
him,  and  represented  the  further  prosecution 
of  the  siege  as  hopeless. 

But  Athens  had  made  it  a  maxim  never  to 
let  difficulty  or  disaster  drive  her  back  from 
any  enterprise  once  undertaken,  so  long  as  she 
possessed  the  means  of  making  any  effort,  how- 
ever desperate,  for  its  accomplishment.  With 
indomitable  pertinacity,  she  now  decreed,  in- 
stead of  recalling  her  first  armament  from  be- 
fore Syracuse,  to  send  out  a  second,  though  her 
enemies  near  home  had  now  renewed  open 
warfare  against  her,  and  by  occupying  a  per- 
manent fortification  in  her  territory  had  se- 
verely distressed  her  population,  and  were 
pressing  her  with  almost  all  the  hardships  of 
an  actual  siege.  She  still  was  mistress  of  the 
sea,  and  she  sent  forth  another  fleet  of  seventy 
galleys,  and  another  army,  which  seemed  to 

18  Vol.  1 


290  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  415 

drain  almost  the  last  reserves  of  her  military 
population,  to  try  if  Syracuse  could  not  yet  be 
won,  and  the  honor  of  the  Athenian  arms  be 
preserved  from  the  stigma  of  a  retreat.  At 
Athens  the  head  of  this  second  expedition  she  wisely 
other Heet  placcd  hcr  bcst  general,  Demosthenes,  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  officers  that  the  long 
Peloponnesian  war  had  produced. 

His  arrival  was  critically  timed;  for  Gylip- 
pus  had  encouraged  the  Syracusans  to  attack 
the  Athenians  under  Nicias  by  sea  as  well  as 
by  land,  and  by  one  able  stratagem  of  Ariston, 
one  of  the  admirals  of  the  Corinthian  auxiliary 
squadron,  the  Syracusans  and  their  confed- 
erates had  inflicted  on  the  fleet  of  Nicias  the 
first  defeat  that  the  Athenian  navy  had  ever 
sustained  from  a  numerically  inferior  enemy. 
Gylippus  was  preparing  to  follow  up  his  ad- 
vantage by  fresh  attacks  on  the  Athenians  on 
both  elements,  when  the  arrival  of  Demos- 
thenes completely  changed  the  aspect  of 
affairs,  and  restored  the  superiority  to  the 
invaders.  He  rowed  round  the  great  harbor 
with  loud  cheers  and  martial  music,  as  if  in 
defiance  of  the  Syracusans  and  their  confed- 
erates. His  arrival  had  indeed  changed  their 
newly  born  hopes  into  the  deepest  consterna- 
tion. 

With  the  intuitive  decision  of  a  great  com- 
mander, Demosthenes  at  once  saw  that  the 
possession  of  Epipolae  was  the  key  to  the  pos- 
session of  Syracuse,  and  he  resolved  to  make  a 


Gloom  in 
Syracuse. 


,.c.4is  SIEGE    OF   SYRACUSE  291 

prompt  and  vigorous  attempt  to  recover  that 
position,  while  his  force  was  unimpaired,  and 
the  consternation  which  its  arrival  had  pro- 
duced among  the  besieged  remained  unabated. 
The  Syracusans  and  their  allies  had  run  out 
an  outwork  along  Epipolae  from  the  city  walls, 
intersecting  the  fortified  lines  of  circumvalla- 
tion  which  Nicias  had  commenced,  but  from 
which  he  had  been  driven  by  Gylippus. 
Could  Demosthenes  succeed  in  storming  this 
outwork,  and  in  re-establishing  the  Athenian 
troops  on  the  high  ground,  he  might  fairly 
hope  to  be  able  to  resume  the  circumvallation 
of  the  city,  and  become  the  conqueror  of  Syra- 
cuse; for  when  once  the  besiegers'  lines  were 
completed,  the  number  of  the  troops  with 
which  Gylippus  had  garrisoned  the  place 
would  only  tend  to  exhaust  the  stores  of  pro- 
visions and  accelerate  its  downfall. 

An  easily  repelled  attack  was  first  made  on 
the  outwork  in  the  day-time,  probably  moreTaak:sof 
with  the  view  of  blinding  the  besieged  to  the  ^''''"^'• 
nature  of  the  main  operations  than  with  any 
expectation  of  succeeding  in  an  open  assault, 
with  every  disadvantage  of  the  ground  to  con- 
tend against.  But,  when  the  darkness  had  set 
in,  Demosthenes  formed  his  men  in  columns, 
each  soldier  taking  with  him  five  days'  pro- 
visions, and  the  engineers  and  workmen  of  the 
camp  following  the  troops  with  their  tools,  and 
all  portable  implements  of  fortification,  so  as 
at  once  to  secure  any  advantage  of  ground  that 


THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


The  Beo- 
tlan  infan- 
vry  stand 
firin. 


the  army  might  gain.  Thus  equipped  and 
prepared,  he  led  his  men  along  by  the  foot  of 
the  southern  flank  of  Epipolae,  in  the  direction 
toward  the  interior  of  the  island,  till  he  came 
immediately  below  the  narrow  ridge  that 
forms  the  extremity  of  the  high  ground  look- 
ing westward.  He  then  wheeled  his  vanguard 
to  the  right,  sent  them  rapidly  up  the  paths 
that  wind  along  the  face  of  the  cliff,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  completely  surprising  the  Syra- 
cusan  outposts,  and  in  placing  his  troops  fairly 
on  the  extreme  summit  of  the  all-important 
Epipolae.  Thence  the  Athenians  marched 
eagerly  down  the  slope  toward  the  town,  rout- 
ing some  Syracusan  detachments  that  were 
quartered  in  their  way,  and  vigorously  assail- 
ing the  unprotected  side  of  the  outwork.  All 
at  first  favored  them.  The  outwork  was  aban- 
doned by  its  garrison,  and  the  Athenian  en- 
gineers began  to  dismantle  it.  In  vain  Gylip- 
pus  brought  up  fresh  troops  to  check  the  as- 
sault; the  Athenians  broke  and  drove  them 
back,  and  continued  to  press  hotly  forward, 
in  the  full  confidence  of  victory.  But,  amid 
the  general  consternation  of  the  Syracusans 
and  their  confederates,  one  body  of  infantry 
stood  firm.  This  was  a  brigade  of  their  Beo- 
tian  allies,  which  was  posted  low  down  the 
slope  of  Epipolae,  outside  the  city  walls.  Cool- 
ly and  steadily  the  Beotian  infantry  formed 
their  line,  and  undismayed  by  the  current  of 
flight  around  them,  advanced  against  the  ad- 


..C.4IS  SIEGE    OF   SYRACUSE  293 

vancing  Athenians.     This  was  the  crisis  of 
the  battle. 

But  the  Athenian  van  was  disorganized  by 
its  own  previous  successes;  and,  yielding  to 
the  unexpected  charge  thus  made  on  it  by 
troops  in  perfect  order,  and  of  the  most  obsti- 
nate courage,  it  was  driven  back  in  confusion 
upon  the  other  divisions  of  the  army,  that  still 
continued  to  press  forward.  When  once  the 
tide  was  thus  turned,  the  Syracusans  passed 
rapidly  from  the  extreme  of  panic  to  the  ex- 
treme of  vengeful  daring,  and  with  all  their 
forces  they  now  fiercely  assailed  the  embar- 
rassed and  receding  Athenians.  In  vain  did 
the  officers  of  the  latter  strive  to  re-form  their 
line. 

Amid  the  din  and  the  shouting  of  the  fight, 
and  the  confusion  inseparable  upon  a  night  ^j^^^^j^^ 
engagement,  especially  one  where  many  thou-  SlSa! 
sand  combatants  were  pent  and  whirled  to- 
gether in  a  narrow  and  uneven  area,  the  nec- 
essary manoeuvres  were  impracticable;  and 
though  many  companies  still  fought  on  des- 
perately, wherever  the  moonlight  showed 
them  the  semblance  of  a  foe,  they  fought  with- 
out concert  or  subordination;  and  not  unfre- 
quently,  amid  the  deadly  chaos,  Athenian 
troops  assailed  each  other.  Keeping  their 
ranks  close,  the  Syracusans  and  their  allies 
pressed  on  against  the  disorganized  masses  of 
the  besiegers,  and  at  length  drove  them,  with 
heavy  slaughter,  over  the  cliffs,  which  an  hour 


294         THE  WORLD'S  GREAT  EVENTS        b.c.^.j 

or  two  before  they  had  scaled  full  of  hope,  and 
apparently  certain  of  success. 
Vengeance  This  dcfcat  was  decislvc  of  the  event  of  the 
irictors.  siege.  The  Athenians  afterward  struggled 
only  to  protect  themselves  from  the  vengeance 
which  the  Syracusans  sought  to  wreak  in  the 
complete  destruction  of  their  invaders.  Nev- 
er, however,  was  vengeance  more  complete 
and  terrible.  A  series  of  sea-fights  followed, 
in  which  the  Athenian  galleys  were  utterly 
destroyed  or  captured.  The  marines  and  sol- 
diers who  escaped  death  in  disastrous  engage- 
ments, and  2  vain  attempt  to  force  a  retreat 
into  the  interior  of  the  island,  became  prison- 
ers of  war;  Nicias  and  Demosthenes  were  put 
to  death  in  cold  blood,  and  their  men  either 
perished  miserably  in  Syracusan  dungeons,  or 
were  sold  into  slavery  to  the  very  persons 
whom,  in  their  pride  of  power,  they  had 
crossed  the  seas  to  enslave. 

All  danger  from  Athens  to  the  independent 
Athenian  nations  of  the  West  was  now  forever  at  an  end. 
She,  indeed,  continued  to  struggle  against  her 
combined  enemies  and  revolted  allies  with  un- 
paralleled gallantry,  and  many  more  years  of 
varying  warfare  passed  away  before  she  sur- 
rendered to  their  arms.  But  no  success  in 
subsequent  conquests  could  ever  have  restored 
her  to  the  pre-eminence  in  enterprise,  re- 
sources and  maritime  skill  which  she  had  ac- 
quired before  her  fatal  reverses  in  Sicily.  Nor 
among  the  rival  Greek  republics,  whom  her 


power. 


B.C.  4IS  SIEGE    OF    SYRACUSE  295 

own  rashness  aided  to  crush  her,  was  there  any 
capable  of  reorganizing  her  empire,  or  re-to°take 
suming  her  schemes  of  conquest.  The  do-pi^^e. 
minion  of  Western  Europe  was  left  for  Rome 
and  Carthage  to  dispute  two  centuries  later  in 
conflicts  still  more  terrible,  and  with  even 
higher  displays  of  military  daring  and  genius 
than  Athens  had  witnessed  either  in  her  rise, 
her  meridian,  or  her  fall. 


EXPEDITION    OF    THE    TEN    THOUSAND 

(B.C.  400) 


I 


Persian 
throne, 


LEOPOLD   VON   RANKE 

T  was  an  undertaking  of  the  widest  import 
when    Cyrus    the    Younger    resolved    to 
place  himself  by  the  aid  of  Grecian  arms 
on  the  throne  of  Persia.    A  pretext  was  found 
Cyrus de-    in  a  Doint  left  unsettled  by  the  constitutional 

termines  to  •' 

pirliln^  law  of  that  country.  It  was  matter  of  dispute 
whether  the  right  of  succession  belonged  to 
the  eldest  son,  or  to  the  son  born  first  after  his 
father's  accession  to  the  throne.  The  accession 
of  Xerxes  had  been  decided  by  the  fact  that  he 
was  born  during  the  reign  of  Darius.  On 
similar  grounds,  when  Darius  Nothus  died, 
Cyrus  the  Younger,  the  only  son  born  during 
his  father's  reign,  claimed  the  preference  over 
his  brother  Artaxerxes.  On  this  occasion,  as 
before,  the  queen  was  for  the  younger  brother, 
but  could  not  bring  her  consort  over  to  his 
side.  Artaxerxes,  surnamed  IVInemon,  be- 
came king;  Cyrus  was  appointed  satrap  of 
Lydia  and  the  regions  that  bordered  on  the 
sea.  It  was  no  ordinary  satrapy  which  thus 
fell  to  the  lot  of  the  king's  son:  he  was  de- 

(296) 


B.C.  400 


EXPEDITION   OF  THE  TEN  THOUSAND  297 


scribed  in  his  father's  edict  as  Karanos,  that 
is,  Lord  or  Sovereign,  a  special  title  such  as 
was  not  infrequently  conferred  upon  satraps 
related  to  the  royal  house.  But  Cyrus  was  not 
contented  with  this  honor.  He  considered 
himself,  in  virtue  of  his  personal  qualities, 
more  capable  of  filling  the  post  of  king.  Ar-  of'cyruf 
taxerxes,  we  are  told,  was  of  a  gentle  nature, 
a  lover  of  peace,  of  genial  and  placable  dis- 
position, a  character  well  suited  to  the  rep- 
resentative of  Ormuzd.  Cyrus,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  ambitious,  adventurous,  and  war- 
like, a  soldier  after  the  manner  of  those  Greek 
mercenaries  whom  he  attracted  in  consider- 
able numbers  to  his  flag. 

Cyrus  not  only  considered  himself  worthy 
of  the  throne  and  justified  in  taking  posses- 
sion of  it,  but  he  was  resolved  to  attempt  its 
conquest.  With  this  object  in  view,  he  sum- 
moned the  Lacedemonians  to  his  aid, expressly 
reminding  them  of  the  service  he  had  done 
them  in  the  late  war.  The  Ephors,  while  re- 
fusing to  declare  themselves  openly  to  him, 
were  satisfied  of  the  justice  of  his  request. 
They  sent  a  fleet  to  Cilicia  to  prevent  the  sa- 
trap of  that  country,  who,  like  other  provin- 
cial governors,  was  naturally  inclined  to  sup- 
port the  king,  from  opposing  the  march  of 
Cyrus.  They  willingly  granted  permission  to 
the  Peloponnesian  soldiery  to  take  service  with 
the  pretender,  and  Clearchus,  one  of  the  best 
of  their  captains,  was  expressly  empowered  to 


298  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  ..c.  400 

serve  under  him.     Thereupon  a  very  consid- 
thoiTand    erable  body  of  troops,  thirteen  thousand   in 

Greeks  join  ,  ,,  ,  ,      , 

Cyrus.  number,  was  collected,  and  the  army,  meeting 
with  little  resistance  in  Asia  Minor,  set  out 
on  its  march,  in  order  to  win  the  Persian 
crown  for  the  ally  of  Lacedemon.  In  short,  it 
was  through  the  support  of  Cyrus  that  the 
Lacedemonians  had  overpowered  Greece;  it 
was  through  the  aid  of  Lacedemon  that  Cyrus 
was  now  to  become  lord  and  master  of  Persia. 
It  was  indeed  a  matter  of  doubt,  whether  the 
alliance  of  Greek  mercenaries  with  the  pre- 
tender to  the  Persian  throne  was  likely  to 
exercise  a  decisive  and  general  influence  on 
afifairs.  Even  had  the  attempt  proved  suc- 
cessful, had  Artaxerxes  been  overthrown  and 
Cyrus  set  up  in  his  place,  the  Greeks  would 
probably  have  played  a  subordinate  part,  like 
that  which  they  performed  at  the  side  of  the 
Hellenizing  Pharaohs  of  Egypt.  But  it  is 
nevertheless  undeniable  that,  even  under  these 
circumstances,  the  aspect  of  the  world  would 
have  undergone  a  change.  Cyrus  would  have 
met  with  opposition  and  would  have  re- 
mained dependent  on  Grecian  support.  The 
Greeks  would  have  retained  a  certain  share 
in  the  dominion  founded  by  their  aid,  and 
would  have  extended  their  influence  to  the 
furthest  parts  of  Asia.  It  was  a  question 
of  life  and  death  for  the  Persian  Empire 
whether  it  would  be  able  to  resist  this  attack 
or  not. 


B.C.400  EXPEDITION   OF   THE  TEN   THOUSAND  299 

When  the  armies  met  in  the  plain  of  Cu- 
naxa  on  the  banks  of  the  Lower  Euphrates,  between 

'■  Cyrus  and 

it  at  first  appeared  probable  that  the  expedi-  Anaxerxes. 
tion  of  Cyrus  would  be  crowned  with  success. 
His  Greek  allies,  familiar  as  they  were  with 
the  practice  of  war,  and  led  by  an  experienced 
commander,  advanced  in  steady  array,  and 
made  a  sudden  and  vigorous  attack  upon  the 
enemy.  The  attack  was  successful.  The  Per- 
sian squadrons  opposed  to  them,  hastily  col- 
lected, ill  equipped,  and  devoid  of  military 
experience,  were  routed  at  first.  The  battle 
seemed  to  be  won,  and  Cyrus  was  saluted  as 
king;  but  the  body  of  picked  and  disciplined 
troops,  in  whose  midst  was  Artaxerxes  him- 
self, still  held  together  in  unshaken  order,  cunaxa. 
Cyrus  had  to  engage  in  a  personal  combat 
with  his  brother.  The  historians  are  full  of 
this  duel,  which  not  only  supplied  food  for 
Oriental  fancy,  but  reminded  the  Greeks  of 
the  stories  of  a  mythical  age,  and  especially 
of  the  combat  between  Eteocles  and  Poly- 
neikes.  The  story,  however,  rests  upon  no 
solid  foundation.  All  that  we  can  be  certain 
of  is  that  Cyrus  made  a  strong  impression  on 
the  enemy's  centre;  that  Tissaphernes  restored 
order  among  his  troops,  and  that  in  the  hand-  Death  of 
to-hand  struggle  which  ensued  Cyrus  was 
killed. 

The  object  of  the  expedition  was  a  purely 
personal  one:  on  the  death  of  the  pretender,  it 
came  to  an  end  at  once.    The  Grecian  leaders 


300  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  ■.c.400 

fell  victims  to  the  treachery  of  the  Persian 
iheG?ee°ks  alHes  of  Cvrus,  whose  only  thought  was  now 

under  -'  '       .  -  » 

xcnophon.  (q  make  peace  with  the  Great  King;  but  the 
Greek  troops,  led  by  the  Athenian  Xenophon, 
though  much  reduced  in  numbers,  made  good 
their  retreat.  Their  march  has  won  imper- 
ishable renown  in  the  annals  of  military  his- 
tory, as  the  Retreat  of  the  Ten  Thousand.  It 
is  a  proof  of  the  military  skill  which  every 
individual  Greek  had  made  his  own,  that 
they  were  able  to  adapt  their  tactics  to  their 
needs,  and  to  repel  the  attacks  of  light-armed 
troops.  In  the  face  of  the  greatest  dangers 
and  difficulties,  and  through  the  midst  of 
savage  tribes  still  living  in  ancestral  freedom, 
they  pressed  forward  on  their  homeward  way. 
At  length,  as  we  read  in  the  impressive  nar- 
rative of  Xenophon,  they  beheld  the  sea,  and 
saluted  it  with  joyful  shouts  of  "Thalatta! 
Thalatta!"  The  sea  was  their  own,  and  safety 
was  before  them  at  last. 

This  march  must  not  be  regarded  as  a  mere 
adventure.  Rightly  considered,  it  will  be 
seen  to  have  had  results  of  far-reaching  im- 
portance. The  Persian  satraps  could  not 
avoid  calling  the  Lacedemonians  to  account 
for  the  attack  on  the  Great  King,  in  which 
they  had  taken  part.  Tissaphernes,  who  now 
came  again  to  the  front  after  the  fall  of  Cy- 
rus the  Younger,  renewed  the  war  in  Asia 
Minor.  It  may  be  open  to  dispute  whether 
the  renewal  of  hostilities  between  Persia  and 


B.C.  400 


EXPEDITION   OF  THE  TEN   THOUSAND  301 


Lacedemon  was  one  of  the  circumstances 
which  enabled  the  Athenians  to  reorganize 
their  republic  in  the  way  described  above,  but 
it  is  certain  that  it  introduced  a  new  phase  in 
the  relations  of  Greece  and  Persia. 

The  expedition  of  the  Ten  Thousand  had 
at  least  one  remarkable  result.  The  old  ideajhe'exp^i- 
of  an  invasion  of  Asia  awoke  to  new  life  in"°"' 
the  breasts  of  the  Lacedemonians.  Derkyl- 
lidas,  at  the  head  of  an  army  composed  of 
Lacedemonians  and  their  allies,  took  posses- 
sion of  the  Troad.  Hereupon  the  two  satraps, 
Tissaphernes  and  Pharnabazus,  came  to  an 
understanding  and  made  proposals  of  peace, 
but,  these  proposals  appearing  dangerous  to 
the  Lacedemonians,  the  ill-feeling  ripened 
into  the  determination  to  renew  the  ancient 
war.  Agesilaus,  the  youthful  King  of  Lace- 
demon, was  sent  over  to  Asia.  In  this  expedi-' 
tion  Homeric  ideas  were  revived,  and  Agesi- 
laus, before  his  departure,  offered  a  sacrifice 
at  Aulis,  though  not  without  experiencing  op- 
position from  the  Thebans,  his  former  allies. 

[In  399,  the  philosopher  Socrates,  the 
teacher  of  Xenophon  and  Plato,  was  put  to 
death  for  his  teachings,  which  were  held  to 
be  hurtful  to  the  State.] 


DEATH     OF     SOCRATES 

(B.C.  399) 

PLATO 


I 


WILL  begin  at  the  beginning,  and  en- 
deavor to  repeat  the  entire  conversation. 
You  must  understand  that  we  had  been 
previously  in  the  habit  of  assembling  early  in 
the  morning  at  the  court  in  which  the  trial 
was  held,  and  which  is  not  far  from  the  prison. 
There  we  remained  talking  with  one  another 
until  the  opening  of  the  prison  doors  (for  they 
were  not  opened  very  early),  and  we  went  in 
and  generally  passed  the  day  with  Socrates. 
On  the  last  morning  the  meeting  was  earlier 
ScrateV^  than  usual ;  this  was  owing  to  our  having 
heard  on  the  previous  evening  that  the  sacred 
ship  had  arrived  from  Delos,  and  therefore  we 
agreed  to  meet  very  early  at  the  accustomed 
place.  On  our  going  to  the  prison,  the  jailer 
who  answered  the  door,  instead  of  admitting 
us,  came  out  and  bade  us  wait  and  he  would 
call  us.  "For  the  Eleven,"  he  said,  "are  now 
with  Socrates;  they  are  taking  off  his  chains, 
and  giving  orders  that  he  is  to  die  to-day." 
He  soon  returned  and  said  that  we  might  come 
in.   On  entering  we  found  Socrates  just  released 

(302) 


B.C.  399  DEATH    OF    SOCRATES  303 

from  chains,  and  Xanthippe,  whom  you  know, 
sitting  by  him,  and  holding  his  child  in  her 
arms.  When  she  saw  us  she  uttered  a  cry  and 
said,  as  women  will:  "O  Socrates,  this  is  the  views  on 
last  time  that  either  you  will  converse  withanfpa^n. 
your  friends,  or  they  with  you."  Socrates 
turned  to  Crito  and  said:  "Crito,  let  some  one 
take  her  home."  Some  of  Crito's  people  ac- 
cordingly led  her  away,  crying  out  and  beat- 
ing herself.  And  when  she  was  gone,  Soc- 
rates, sitting  up  on  the  couch,  began  to  bend 
and  rub  his  leg,  saying,  as  he  rubbed:  How 
singular  is  the  thing  called  pleasure,  and  how 
curiously  related  to  pain,  which  might  be 
thought  to  be  the  opposite  of  it;  for  they  never 
come  to  a  man  together,  and  yet  he  who  pur- 
sues either  of  them  is  generally  compelled  to 
take  the  other.  They  are  two,  and  yet  they 
grow  together  out  of  one  head  or  stem;  and 
I  can  not  help  thinking  that  if  Esop  had  no- 
ticed them,  he  would  have  made  a  fable  about 
God  trying  to  reconcile  their  strife,  and  when 
he  could  not,  he  fastened  their  heads  together; 
and  this  is  the  reason  why  when  one  comes  the 
other  follows,  as  I  find  in  my  own  case  pleas- 
ure comes  following  after  the  pain  in  my  leg, 
which  was  caused  by  the  chain.  .  .  . 

I  do  not  mean  to  affirm  that  the  description 
which  I  have  given  of  the  soul  and  her  man-  taHt™"°'" 
sions  is  exactly  true — a  man  of  sense  ought 
hardly  to  say  that.     But  I  do  say  that,  inas- 
much as  the  soul  is  shown  to  be  immortal,  he 


3U-4  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  ,.c.  399 

may  venture  to  think,  not  improperly  or  un- 
worthily, that  something  of  the  kind  is  true. 
The  venture  is  a  glorious  one,  and  he  ought 

onthcsoui.  to  comfort  himself  with  words  like  these, 
which  is  the  reason  why  I  lengthen  out  the 
tale.  Wherefore,  I  say,  let  a  man  be  of  good 
cheer  about  his  soul,  who  has  c^st  away  the 
pleasures  and  ornaments  of  the  body  as  alien 
to  him,  and  rather  hurtful  in  their  effects,  and 
has  followed  after  the  pleasures  of  knowledge 
in  this  life;  who  has  adorned  the  soul  in  her 
own  proper  jewels,  which  are  temperance,  and 
justice,  and  courage,  and  nobility,  and  truth 
— in  these  arrayed  she  is  ready  to  go  on  her 
journey  to  the  world  below,  when  her  time 
comes.  You,  Simmias  and  Cebes,  and  all 
other  men,  will  depart  at  some  time  or  other. 
Me  already,  as  the  tragic  poet  would  say,  the 

His  counsel  voice  of  fatc  calls.  Soon  I  must  drink  the 
poison;  and  I  think  that  I  had  better  repair 
to  the  bath  first,  in  order  that  the  women  may 
not  have  the  trouble  of  washing  my  body  after 
I  am  dead. 

When  he  had  done  speaking,  Crito  said: 
And  have  you  any  commands  for  us,  Socrates 
— anything  to  say  about  your  children,  or  any 
other  matter  in  which  we  can  serve  you? 

Nothing  particular,  he  said;  only,  as  I  have 
told  you,  I  would  have  you  to  look  to  your- 
selves; that  is  a  service  which  you  may  al- 
ways be  doing  to  me  and  mine  as  well  as  to 
yourselves.     And  you  need  not  make  profes- 


,.c.399  DEATH    OF    SOCRATES  305 

sions;  for  if  you  take  no  thought  for  your- 
selves, and  walk  not  according  to  the  precepts 
which  I  have  given  you,  not  now  for  the  first 
time,  the  warmth  of  your  professions  will  be 
of  no  avail. 

We  will  do  our  best,  said  Crito.     But  in 
what  way  would  you  have  us  bury  you? 

In  any  way  that  you  like ;  only  you  must  get 
hold  of  me,  and  take  care  that  I  do  not  walkLastcom- 
away  from  you.  Then  he  turned  to  us,  and  soTra?e°sf 
added  with  a  smile :  I  can  not  make  Crito  be- 
lieve that  I  am  the  same  Socrates  who  have 
been  talking  and  conducting  the  argument; 
he  fancies  that  I  am  the  other  Socrates  whom 
he  will  soon  see,  a  dead  body — and  he  asks, 
How  shall  he  bury  me?  And  though  I  have 
spoken  many  words  in  the  endeavor  to  show 
that  when  I  have  drunk  the  poison  I  shall 
leave  you  and  go  to  the  joys  of  the  blessed — 
these  words  of  mine  with  which  I  comforted 
you  and  myself,  have  had,  as  I  perceive,  no 
eflfect  upon  Crito.  And  therefore  I  want  you 
to  be  surety  for  me  now,  as  he  was  surety  for 
me  at  the  trial:  but  let  the  promise  be  of 
another  sort;  for  he  was  my  surety  to  the 
judges  that  I  would  remain,  but  you  must  be 
my  surety  to  him  that  I  shall  not  remain,  but 
go  away  and  depart;  and  then  he  will  suffer 
less  at  my  death,  and  not  be  grieved  when  he 
sees  my  body  being  burned  or  buried.  I 
would  not  have  him  sorrow  at  my  hard  lot, 
or  say  at  the  burial.  Thus  we  lay  out  Socrates^ 


306  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  3f9 


or,  Thus  we  follow  him  to  the  grave  or  bury 
him ;  for  false  words  are  not  only  evil  in  them- 
selves, but  they  infect  the  soul  with  evil.  Be 
of  good  cheer,  then,  my  dear  Crito,  and  say 
that  you  are  burying  my  body  only,  and  do 
with  that  as  is  usual,  and  as  you  think  best. 

When  he  had  spoken  these  words,  he  arose 
and  went  into  the  bath  chamber  and  left  us 
thinking  of  the  subject  of  discourse,  and  also 
of  the  greatness  of  our  sorrow;  he  was  like  a 
father  of  whom  we  were  being  bereaved,  and 
we  were  about  to  pass  the  rest  of  our  lives  as 
He  takes  orphans.  When  he  had  taken  the  bath  his 
famn>°^^'^ children  were  brought  to  him  (he  had  two 
young  sons  and  an  elder  one)  ;  and  the  women 
of  his  family  also  came,  and  he  talked  to  them 
and  gave  them  a  few  directions  in  the  pres- 
ence of  Crito;  and  he  then  dismissed  them  and 
returned  to  us. 

Now  the  hour  of  sunset  was  near,  for  a  good 
deal  of  time  had  passed  while  he  was  within. 
When  he  came  out,  he  sat  down  with  us  again 
after  his  bath,  but  not  much  was  said.  Soon 
the  jailer,  who  was  the  servant  of  the  Eleven, 
entered  and  stood  by  him,  saying:  To  you, 
Socrates,  whom  I  know  to  be  the  noblest  and 
gentlest  and  best  of  all  who  ever  came  to  this 
place,  I  will  not  impute  the  angry  feelings  of 
other  men,  who  rage  and  swear  at  me  when, 
in  obedience  to  the  authorities,  I  bid  them 
drink  the  poison — indeed,  I  am  sure  that  you 
will  not  be  angry  with  me;  for  others,  as  you 


B.C.  399 


DEATH    OF    SOCRATES  30i 


are  aware,  and  not  I,  are  the  guilty  cause. 
And  so  fare  you  well,  and  try  to  bear  lightly 
what  must  needs  be;  and  know  my  errand. 
Then  bursting  into  tears  he  turned  away  and 
went  out. 

Socrates  looked  at  him  and  said:  I  return 
your  good  wishes,  and  will  do  as  you  bid. 
Then,  turning  to  us,  he  said,  How  charming 
the  man  is:  since  I  have  been  in  prison  he  has 
always  been  coming  to  see  me,  and  at  times 
he  would  talk  to  me,  and  was  as  good  as  could 
be  to  me,  and  now  see  how  generously  he  sor- 
rows for  me.  But  we  must  do  as  he  says, 
Crito;  let  the  cup  be  brought,  if  the  poison  is 
prepared;  if  not,  let  the  attendant  prepare 
some. 

Yet,  said  Crito,  the  sun  is  still  upon  the  hill- 
tops, and  many  a  one  has  taken  the  draught 
late,  and  after  the  announcement  has  been 
made  to  him,  he  has  eaten  and  drunk,  and 
indulged  in  sensual  delights;  do  not  hasten, 
then,  there  is  still  time. 

Socrates    said:     Yes,    Crito,    and    they   of  He  does 

not  seek 

whom  you  speak  are  right  in  doing  thus,  for  delay. 
they  think  that  they  will  gain  by  the  delay; 
but  I  am  right  in  not  doing  thus,  for  I  do  not 
think  that  I  should  gain  anything  by  drink- 
ing the  poison  a  little  later;  I  should  be  spar- 
ing and  saving  a  life  which  is  already  gone; 
I  could  only  laugh  at  myself  for  this.  Please, 
then,  do  as  I  say,  and  not  refuse  me. 

Crito,  when  he  heard  this,  made  a  sign  to 


308  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  399 


conduct. 


the  servant;  and  the  servant  went  in,  and  re- 
mained for  some  time,  and  then  returned  with 
the  jailer  carrying  the  cup  of  poison.  Soc- 
rates said:  You,  my  good  friend,  who  are 
experienced  in  these  matters,  shall  give  me 
directions  how  I  am  to  proceed.  The  man 
answered :  You  have  only  to  walk  about  until 
your  legs  are  heavy,  and  then  to  lie  down,  and 
the  poison  will  act.  At  the  same  time  he  gave 
the  cup  to  Socrates,  who,  in  the  easiest  and 
Hiscaim  gentlcst  manner,  without  the  least  fear  or 
change  of  color  or  feature,  looking  at  the  man 
with  all  his  eyes,  Echecrates,  as  his  manner 
was,  took  the  cup  and  said:  What  do  you  say 
about  making  a  libation  out  of  this  cup  to  any 
god?  May  I,  or  not?  The  man  answered: 
We  only  prepare,  Socrates,  just  so  much  as 
we  deem  enough.  I  understand,  he  said:  yet 
I  may  and  must  pray  to  the  gods  to  pros- 
per my  journey  from  this  to  that  other  world 
— may  this,  then,  which  is  my  prayer,  be 
granted  to  me.  Then  holding  the  cup  to  his 
lips,  quite  readily  and  cheerfully  he  drank 
ofif  the  poison.  And  hitherto  most  of  us  had 
been  able  to  control  our  sorrow ;  but  now  when 
we  saw  him  drinking,  and  saw  too  that  he 
had  finished  the  draught,  we  could  no  longer 
forbear,  and  in  spite  of  myself  my  own  tears 
were  flowing  fast;  so  that  I  covered  my  face 
and  wept  over  myself,  for  certainly  I  was  not 
weeping  over  him,  but  at  the  thought  of  my 
own  calamity  in  having  lost  such  a  compan- 


B.C.  399  DEATH    OF    SOCRATES  309 

ion.  Nor  was  I  the  first,  for  Crito,  when  he 
found  himself  unable  to  restrain  his  tears, 
had  got  up  and  moved  away,  and  I  followed ; 
and  at  that  moment,  Apollodorus,  who  had 
been  weeping  all  the  time,  broke  out  into  a 
loud  cry  which  made  cowards  of  us  all.  Soc- 
rates alone  retained  his  calmness:  What  is 
this  strange  outcry?  he  said.  I  sent  away  the 
women  mainly  in  order  that  they  might  not 
ofifend  in  this  way,  for  I  have  heard  that  a 
man  should  die  in  peace.  Be  quiet,  then,  and 
have  patience. 

When  we  heard  that,  we  were   ashamed.  Action  of 
and  refrained  our  tears;  and  he  walked  about   ^^^'^' 
until,  as  he  said,  his  legs  began  to  fail,  and 
then  he  lay  on  his  back,  according  to  the  di- 
rectings,  and  the  man  who  gave  him  the  poison 
now  and  then  looked  at  his  feet  and  legs;  and 
after  a  while  he  pressed  his  foot  hard  and 
asked  him  if  he  could  feel;  and  he  said,  no; 
and  then  his  leg,  and  so  upward  and  upward, 
and  showed  us  that  he  was  cold  and  stiff.    And 
he  felt  them  himself,   and  said:    When  the 
poison  reaches  the  heart,  that  will  be  the  end. 
He  was  beginning  to  grow  cold   about  the 
groin,  when   he  uncovered   his   face,   for  he 
had  covered  himself  up,  and  said  (they  were^^.^i^^^ 
his  last  words)  :  Crito,  I  owe  a  cock  to  As-'^°'''^'- 
clepius;  will  you  remember  to  pay  the  debt? 
The  debt  shall  be  paid,  said  Crito;  is  there 
anything  else?     There  was  no  answer  to  this 
question;  but  in  a  minute  or  two  a  movement 


SIO  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  ».c.  399 

was  heard,  and  the  attendants  uncovered  him; 
his  eyes  were  set,  and  Crito  closed  his  eyes 
and  mouth. 

Such  was  the  end,  Echecrates,  of  our  friend, 
whom  I  may  truly  call  the  wisest,  and  justest, 
and  best  of  all  the  men  whom  I  have  ever 
known. 

[In  399,  the  attempt  of  the  Persians  to 
punish  the  Greek  cities  of  Asia  Minor  for 
their  having  aided  Cyrus  brought  the  Spar- 
tans to  their  relief.  Persian  subsidies  induced 
the  Corinthians  to  attack  Sparta  (395). 
Peace  was  not  concluded  till  387.  Rome  suf- 
Rome^  fered  great  disasters  in  390  by  the  first  in- 
by Gauls,  yasion  of  the  Gauls,  the  burning  of  the  city 
and  the  battle  of  the  AUia.] 


THE    GAULS'    FIRST    ATTACK    ON    ROME 

(B.C.  390) 

LIVY 


A 


T  this  time  ambassadors  arrived  from  The  cauis 
Clusium  asking  aid  against  the  Gauls.  Emir?a. 
According  to  some,  that  nation  was 
lured  across  the  Alps  to  seize  the  country  of 
the  Etrurians  by  the  deliciousness  of  its  pro- 
ductions, especially  the  wine,  a  new  luxury  to 
them.  Aruns  of  Clusium  had  introduced  it 
into  Gaul  for  the  purpose  of  enticing  that 
people  so  as  by  their  help  to  gratify  his  re- 
sentment against  Lucano,  who  had  debauched 
his  wife  and  was  too  powerful  to  punish  with- 
out foreign  aid.  He  acted  as  their  guide 
across  the  Alps  and  advised  them  to  besiege 
Clusium. 

The  Clusians  were  terrified  at  the  approach 
of  this  strange  enemy,  and  determined  to  send 
ambassadors  to  Rome  to  solicit  aid  from  the 
Senate,  which  request  was  not  granted.  The 
three  Fabii  were  sent  to  mediate  with  the 
Gauls  in  the  name  of  the  Senate  and  Commons  The  Etrus 
of  Rome.  The  Romans  asking  by  what  right  RomlTor 
they  demanded  land  from  the  owners  and 
threatened  war  in  case  of  refusal,  and  what 

C311) 


812  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  390 

business  the  Gauls  had  in  Etruria,  the  latter 
fiercely  replied  that  "They  carried  their  right 
on  the  points  of  their  swords  and  that  all 
The  Gauls'  thittgs  wcre  the  property  of  the  brave."  Thus, 
grievances.  ^jj.j^  minds  inflamed  on  both  sides,  they  hastily 
separated  to  prepare  for  battle,  which  began 
without  delay.  Here,  Fate  now  pressing  the 
city  of  Rome,  the  ambassadors,  contrary  to 
the  law  of  nations,  took  part  in  the  action. 
Dropping  therefore  their  resentment  against 
the  Clusians,  the  Gauls  sounded  a  retreat, 
threatening  vengeance  on  the  Romans.  Some 
advised  an  immediate  march  on  Rome;  but 
the  opinion  of  the  elders  prevailed  that  am- 
bassadors should  first  be  sent  to  demand  that 
the  Fabii  be  delivered  up  to  them  as  a  satis- 
faction for  this  violation  of  the  Law  of  Na- 
tions. When  the  Gallic  ambassadors  had  ex- 
plained matters,  so  powerful  was  the  influence 
of  interest  and  wealth  that  the  very  persons 
whose  punishment  was  the  subject  of  deliber- 
ation were  appointed  military  tribunes  for 
the  ensuing  year.  At  this  the  justly  enraged 
Gauls,  openly  threatening  war,  returned  to 
their  countrymen. 

When  Fortune  is  determined  on  the  ruin  of 
a  people,  she  can  so  blind  them  as  to  render 
them  insensible  to  dangers  of  the  greatest 
magnitude;  accordingly  the  Roman  state 
sought  no  assistance.  Tribunes  whose  temer- 
ity had  brought  on  the  troubles  were  in- 
trusted with  the  reins  of  government,  and  they 


B.C.  390  THE   GAULS'    FIRST  ATTACK  ON   ROME  313 

used  no  greater  diligence  in  raising  forces 
than  was  usual  in  the  case  of  a  rupture  with  march  on 
any  of  their  neighbors.  Meanwhile,  the 
Gauls,  inflamed  with  rage,  instantly  snatched 
up  their  ensigns  and  began  the  march  with 
the  utmost  speed.  But  rumor  outstripped 
them  and  caused  the  utmost  consternation  in 
Rome,  whose  army,  partly  a  rabble,  with  all 
the  haste  possible  scarcely  reached  the  elev- 
enth stone  before  they  met  the  enemy  at 
the  junction  of  the  Allia  and  Tiber.  Already 
their  whole  front  and  flanks  were  covered  by 
numerous  bodies  of  Gauls,  and  as  that  nation 
has  a  natural  turn  for  increasing  4:error  by 
confusion,  they  filled  the  air  with  a  horrid 
din  by  their  harsh  music  and  discordant 
yells. 

There  the  military  tribunes,  without  form- 
ing a  camp,  without  taking  the  precaution  of 
raising  a  rampart  that  might  secure  a  retreat, 
regardless  of  duty  to  the  gods,  to  say  nothing 
of  that  to  man,  without  taking  auspices  or 
offering  a  sacrifice,  drew  up  their  line.  Bren- 
nus,  the  chieftain  of  the  Gauls,  turned  his 
force  against  the  reserve:  thus  not  only  For- 
tune but  judgment  also  was  on  the  side  of  the 
barbarians.  In  the  other  army,  neither  com- 
manders nor  soldiers  appeared  like  Romans.  Romanl.'*'*^ 
Terror  and  dismay  had  seized  them,  so  that 
far  greater  numbers  fled  to  Veii,  though  the 
Tiber  was  in  the  way,  than  to  Rome  to  their 
wives  and  children.    Thus  no  lives  were  lost 

U  VoL  1 


314  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  "c  390 

in  battle;  but  their  rear  was  cut  to  pieces  in 
the  contused  retreat.  There  was  great  slaugh- 
ter in  the  left  wing  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber, 
and  many,  overweighted  by  their  armor,  were 
drowned.  The  right  wing  took  the  way  to 
Rome  and  got  into  the  citadel  without  even 
shutting  the  city  gates. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  attainment  of  such 
mlnTof'  ^  speedy,  such  an  almost  miraculous  victory, 
the  Gauls,  j^stonishcd  the  Gauls.  At  first  they  stood  mo- 
tionless through  apprehension  for  their  own 
safety,  scarcely  knowing  what  had  happened; 
then  they  dreaded  some  stratagem;  at  length, 
they  collected  the  spoils  of  the  slain,  and  piled 
the  arms  in  heaps,  according  to  their  practice. 
And  now,  seeing  no  signs  of  an  enemy  any- 
where, they  at  last  began  to  march  forward, 
and  a  little  before  sunset  arrived  near  the 
city  of  Rome,  where,  receiving  intelligence  by 
some  horsemen  who  had  advanced  before,  that 
the  gates  were  open  without  any  troops  posted 
to  defend  them,  nor  any  soldiers  on  the  walls, 
this  second  incident,  not  less  unaccountable 
than  the  former,  induced  them  to  halt;  and 
apprehending  danger  from  the  darkness  of 
the  night,  and  their  ignorance  of  the  situation 
„  .  .      of  the  city,  thev  took  post  between  Rome  and 

Panic  in  j  7  .  r 

Rome.  j-j^g  Anio,  Sending  scouts  about  the  walls  and 
the  several  gates,  to  discover  what  plans  the 
enemy  w^ould  pursue  in  this  desperate  state  of 
their  afifairs.  The  Roman  soldiers  who  were 
living,    their    friends    lamented    as    lost;    the 


■.c.  390 


THE   GAULS'   FIRST  ATTACK   ON   ROME  315 


greater  part  of  them  having  gone  from  the 
field  of  battle  to  Veii,  and  no  one  supposing 
that  any  survived,  except  those  who  had  come 
home  to  Rome.  In  fine,  the  city  v^^as  almost 
entirely  filled  with  sorrowings.  But  on  the 
arrival  of  intelligence  that  the  enemy  were  at 
hand,  the  apprehensions  excited  by  the  public 
danger  stifled  all  private  sorrow:  soon  after, 
the  barbarians  patrolling  about  the  walls  in 
troops,  they  heard  their  yells  and  the  dissonant 
clamor  of  their  martial  instruments.  During 
the  whole  interval  between  this  and  the  next 
morning  they  were  held  in  the  most  anxious 
suspense,  every  moment  expecting  an  assault 
to  be  made  on  the  city.  During  that  night, 
however,  and  also  the  following  day,  the  state 
preserved  a  character  very  different  from  that 
which  such  a  dastardly  flight  at  the  Allia  had 
indicated;  for  there  being:  no  room  to  hope^e^ures 

'  o  r     for  defence. 

that  the  city  could  possibly  be  defended  by 
the  small  number  of  troops  remaining,  a  reso- 
lution was  taken  that  the  young  men  who  were 
fit  to  bear  arms,  and  the  abler  part  of  the  sen- 
ate, with  their  wives  and  children,  should  go 
up  into  the  citadel  and  the  capitol ;  and  having 
collected  stores  of  arms  and  corn,  should,  in 
that  strong  post,  maintain  the  defence  of  the 
deities,  of  the  inhabitants,  and  of  the  honor  of 
Rome.  That  the  Flamen  Quirinalis,  and  the 
vestal  priestesses,  should  carry  away,  far  from 
slaughter  and  conflagration,  all  that  apper- 
tained to  the  gods  of  the  state;  and  that  their 


816  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  390 

worship  should  not  be  intermitted  until  there 
should  be  no  one  left  to  perform  it. 

Their  exhortations  were  then  turned  to  the 
band  of  young  men,  whom  they  escorted  to 
the  capitol  and  citadel,  commending  to  their 
valor  and  youthful  vigor  the  remaining  for- 
tune of  their  city,  which,  through  the  course 
of  three  hundred  and  sixty  years,  had  ever 
been  victorious  in  all  its  wars.  When  those 
who  carried  with  them  every  hope  and  every 
resource  parted  with  the  others,  who  had  de- 
Harrowing:  tcTmincd  not  to  survive  the  capture  and  de- 

scenes.  ^ 

struction  of  the  city,  the  view  which  it  ex- 
hibited was  sufficient  to  call  forth  the  liveliest 
feelings,  the  women  at  the  same  time  running 
up  and  down  in  distraction,  now  following 
one  party,  then  the  other,  asking  their  hus- 
bands and  their  sons  to  what  fate  they  would 
consign  them.  All  together  formed  such  a 
picture  of  human  woe  as  could  admit  of  no 
aggravation.  A  great  part,  however,  of  the 
women  followed  their  relations  into  the  cita- 
del, no  one  either  hindering  or  inviting  them; 
because,  though  the  measure  of  lessening  the 
number  of  useless  persons  in  a  siege  might 
doubtless  be  advisable  in  one  point  of  view, 
yet  it  was  a  measure  of  extreme  inhumanity. 
The  rest  of  the  multitude,  consisting  chiefly 
of  plebeians,  for  whom  there  was  neither 
room  on  so  small  a  hill,  nor  a  possibility  of 
support  in  so  great  a  scarcity  of  corn,  pouring 
out  of  the  city  in  one  continued  train,  repaired 


BX.390  THE   GAULS'    FIRST  ATTACK   ON   ROME  317 

to  the  Janiculum.  From  thence  some  dis- 
persed through  the  country,  and  others  made 
their  way  to  the  neighboring  cities,  without 
any  leader,  or  any  concert,  each  pursuing  his 
own  hopes  and  his  own  plans,  those  of  the 
public  being  deplored  as  desperate.  In  the 
meantime,    the    Flamen   Quirinalis    and   the 

1         .        ■  ,        .  -Ill  r        The  vestalg 

vestal  virgms,   laymg  aside   all   concern  for  preserve 

,       .  °         '      .  ^     ,  ,    .  ,  the  sacred 

their  own  affairs,  and  consulting  together  treasures, 
which  of  the  sacred  deposits  they  should  take 
with  them,  and  which  they  should  leave  be- 
hind, for  they  had  not  strength  sufficient  to 
carry  all,  and  what  place  they  could  best  de- 
pend on  preserving  them  in  safe  custody, 
judged  it  the  most  eligible  method  to  inclose 
them  in  casks,  and  bury  them  under  ground,  in 
the  chapel  next  to  the  dwelling-house  of  the 
Flamen  Quirinalis,  where  at  present  it  is 
reckoned  profane  even  to  spit.  The  rest  they 
carried,  distributing  the  burdens  among  them- 
selves, along  the  road  which  leads  over  the 
Sublician  bridge  to  Janiculum. 

Meanwhile  at  Rome,  when  every  disposi- 
tion for  the  defence  of  the  citadel  had  been 
completed,  as  far  as  was  possible  in  such  a 
conjuncture,  the  aged  crowd  withdrew  to  their 

,  ,      ,  •    \  n  /•         •       1  Noble  con- 

houses,  and  there,  with  a  nrmness  of  mind  not  duct  of  the 

'  '  curules. 

to  be  shaken  by  the  approach  of  death,  waited 
the  coming  of  the  enemy:  such  of  them  as  had 
held  curule  offices,  choosing  to  die  in  that  garb 
which  displayed  the  emblems  of  their  former 
fortune,  of  their  honors,  or  of  their  merit,  put 


318  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  390 


The  Gauls 
enter  Rome, 


on  the  most  splendid  robes  worn,  when  they 
draw  the  chariots  of  the  gods  in  procession, 
or  ride  in  triumph.  Thus  habited,  they 
seated  themselves  in  their  ivory  chairs  at  the 
fronts  of  their  houses.  Some  say  that  they  de- 
voted themselves  for  the  safety  of  their  coun- 
try and  their  fellow-citizens;  and  that  they 
sung  a  hymn  on  the  occasion.  They  [the 
Gauls]  marched  next  day,  without  any  anger 
or  any  heat  of  passion,  into  the  city,  through 
the  CoUine  gate,  which  stood  open,  and  ad- 
vanced to  the  Forum,  casting  around  their 
eyes  on  the  temples  of  the  gods,  and  on  the 
citadel,  the  only  place  which  had  the  appear- 
ance of  making  resistance.  From  thence, 
leaving  a  small  guard  to  prevent  any  attack 
from  the  citadel  or  capitol,  they  ran  about  in 
quest  of  plunder.  Not  meeting  a  human  being 
in  the  streets,  part  of  them  rushed  in  a  body 
to  the  houses  that  stood  nearest;  part  sought 
the  most  distant,  as  expecting  to  find  them  un- 
touched and  abounding  with  spoil.  After- 
ward, being  frightened  from  thence  by  the 
very  solitude,  and  fearing  lest  some  secret  de- 
sign of  the  enemy  might  be  put  in  execution 
against  them  while  they  were  thus  dispersed, 
they  formed  themselves  into  bodies,  and  re- 
turned again  to  the  Forum,  and  places  ad- 
joining it.  Finding  the  houses  of  the  plebe- 
ians shut  up,  and  the  palaces  of  the  nobles 
standing  open,  they  showed  rather  great  back- 
wardness   to    attack    those    that   were    open 


B.C.  390  THE   GAULS'    FIRST   ATTACK   ON   ROME  319 

than  such  as  were  shut:  with  such  a  degree 

of  veneration  did  they  behold  men  sitting  insia°,^htlr 

began. 

the  porches  of  those  palaces,  who,  beside  their 
ornaments  and  apparel,  more  splendid  than 
became  mortals,  bore  the  nearest  resemblance 
to  gods  in  the  majesty  displayed  in  their  looks 
and  the  gravity  of  their  countenances.  It  is 
said  that  while  they  stood  gazing  on  them 
as  statues,  one  of  them,  Marcus  Papirius,  pro- 
voked the  anger  of  a  Gaul  by  striking  him  on 
the  head  with  his  ivory  sceptre,  while  he  was 
stroking  his  beard,  which  at  that  time  was  uni- 
versally worn  long;  that  the  slaughter  began 
with  him  and  that  the  rest  were  slain  in  their 
seats.  After  the  nobles  were  put  to  death,  no 
living  creature  was  spared.  The  houses  were^f^^^"^'''^ 
plundered  and,  as  soon  as  they  were  emptied, 
set  on  fire. 

The  Romans,  beholding,  from  the  citadel, 
the  city  filled  with  the  enemy,  who  ran  up  and 
down  through  every  street,  some  new  scene  of 
horror  arising  to  their  view  in  every  different 
quarter,  were  neither  able  to  preserve  their 
presence  of  mind,  or  even  to  retain  the  com- 
mand of  their  eyes  and  ears. 

On  the  other  side,  the  Gauls,  having  for 
several  days  only  waged  an  inefifectual  war 
against  the  buildings,  when  they  perceived 
that  among  the  fires  and  ruins  of  the  city  noth- 
ing now  remained  but  a  band  of  armed  ene- 
mies, who  were  neither  terrified  in  the  least 
by  so  many  disasters,  nor  likely  to  condescend 


820  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  390 

to  treat  of  a  capitulation,  unless  force  were 
applied,  resolved  to  have  recourse  to  extremi- 
ties and  make  an  assault  on  the  citadel.     On 
a  signal  given,  at  the  first  light,  their  whole 
multitude  was  marshalled  in  the  Forum,  from 
whence,  after  raising  the  shout  and  forming 
a  testudo,  they  advanced  to  the  attack.     The 
Romans,  in  their  defence,  did  nothing  rashly, 
The  citadel  ^^^  ^"  ^  hurry;  but  having  strengthened  the 
is  attacked,  g^ards  at  every  approach,  and  opposing  the 
main  strength  of  their  men  on  the  quarter 
where  they  saw  the  battalions  advancing,  they 
suffered  the  enemy  to  mount  the  hill,  judging 
that  the  higher  they  should  ascend,  the  more 
easily  they  might  be  driven  back  down  the 
steep.     About  the  middle  of  the  ascent  they 
met  them;   and   their   making  their   charge 
down  the  declivity,  which  of  itself  bore  them 
against  the  enemy,  routed  the  Gauls  with  such 
slaughter  and  such  destruction,  occasioned  by 
their  falling  down  the  precipice,  that  they  never 
afterward,  either  in  parties  or  with  their  whole 
force,  made  another  trial  of  that  kind  of  fight. 
Meanwhile,  those  at  Veii  found  not  only 
their  courage  but  their  strength  also  increas- 
ing daily.     And  as  not  only  such  of  the  Ro- 
mans  repaired   thither  who   in   consequence 
either  of  the  defeat  in  the  field  or  of  the  disas- 
ter of  the  city  being  taken,  had  been  dispersed 
in  various  parts,  but  volunteers  also  flowed  in 
from  Latium,  with  a  view  to  share  in  the  spoil, 
it  now  seemed  high  time  to  attempt  the  recov- 


B.C.  390 


THE   GAULS'    FIRST   ATTACK   ON   ROME  321 


ery  of  their  native  city  and  rescue  it  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  enemy.  But  this  strong  body 
wanted  a  head :  the  spot  where  they  stood  re-  conditions 
minded  them  of  Camillus,  a  great  number  of  ^'^^" 
the  soldiers  having  fought  with  success  under 
his  banners  and  auspices.  Besides,  Cedicius 
declared  that  he  would  not  take  any  part 
which  might  afford  occasion  to  any,  either 
god  or  man,  to  take  away  his  command  from 
him;  but  rather,  mindful  of  his  own  rank, 
would  himself  insist  on  the  appointment  of  a 
general.  With  unanimous  consent  it  was  re- 
solved that  Camillus  should  be  invited  from 
Ardea;  but  that  first  the  Senate,  at  Rome, 
should  be  consulted. 

Thus  they  were  employed  at  Veii,  while,  in 
the  meantime,  the  citadel  and  Capitol  at  Rome 
were  in  the  utmost  danger.  For  the  Gauls, 
having  either  perceived  the  track  of  a  human 
foot,  where  the  messenger  from  Veii  had 
passed;  or,  from  their  own  observation,  re- 
marked the  easy  ascent  at  the  rock  of  Car- 
mentis  on  a  moonlight  night,  having  first  sent 
forward  a  person  unarmed  to  make  trial  of 
the  way,  handing  their  arms  to  those  before 
them;  when  anydifficulty  occurred  supporting 
and  supported  in  turns,  and  drawing  each 
other  up  according  as  the  ground  required, 
they  climbed  to  the  summit  in  such  silence, 
that  they  not  only  escaped  the  notice  of  the 
guards,  but  did  not  even  alarm  the  dogs,  ani- 
mals particularly  watchful  with  regard  to  any 


322  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  390 


noise  at  night.     They  were  not  unperceived, 

The  sacred    <  .  1    •     1       u     •  j 

geese  save  howcver,  bv  some  geese,  which,  being  sacred 

the  citadel.  '       "'  ^  '  •         f 

to  Juno,  the  people  spared  even  in  the  pres- 
ent great  scarcity  of  food.  For,  by  the  cack- 
ling of  these  creatures  and  the  clapping  of 
their  wings,  Marcus  Manlius  was  roused  from 
sleep,  a  man  of  distinguished  character  in  war, 
who  had  been  consul  the  third  year  before, 
and,  snatching  up  his  arms,  and  at  the  same 
time  calling  the  rest  to  arms,  he  hastened  to 
the  spot.  Where,  while  the  rest  ran  about  in 
confusion,  he,  by  a  stroke  with  the  boss  of  his 
sword,  tumbled  down  a  Gaul  who  had  already 
got  footing  on  the  summit;  and  this  man's 
weight,  as  he  fell,  throwing  down  those  who 
were  next,  he  slew  several  others  who,  in  their 
consternation,  threw  away  their  arms  and 
caught  hold  with  their  hands  of  the  rocks,  to 
which  they  clung.  By  this  time  others  had 
Gauls  are  asscmblcd  at  the  place,  who,  by  throwing  jav- 
elins and  stones,  beat  down  the  enemy  so  that 
the  whole  band,  unable  to  keep  their  footing, 
were  hurled  down  the  precipice  in  ruin. 

[The  repeated  inroads  of  the  Gauls  resulted 
in  four  more  wars,  until  they  were  finally  de- 
feated by  Camillus  in  349.  Between  362  and 
351,  Rome  was  also  engaged  in  wars  with  the 
Hernici  and  revolted  Latin  cities  as  well  as 
with  Etruscan  cities,  which  ended  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  Roman  supremacy  throughout 
southern   Etruria.     The  Romans   also  broke 


repulsed. 


B.C.  390 


THE   GAULS'    FIRST   ATTACK   ON    ROME  323 


the  power  of  the  Volscii  and  the  Aurunci  (350- 
345).  The  growing  power  of  Rome  resulted 
in  wars  with  the  Samnites  and  cities  of  Magna 
Greca.  The  first  Samnite  War  (343-341), 
the  great  Latin  War  (340-338),  the  second 
and  third  Samnite  Wars  (326-304  and  298- 
290),  the  war  with  Tarentum  (282-272), 
ended  in  the  subjugation  of  all  Italy  up  to  the 
Rubicon  and  Marca.  The  assistance  given  by 
Pyrrhus  to  the  Samnites,  though  at  first  suc- 
cessful, was  ended  by  the  great  battle  of  Bene- 
ventum  (275).  In  379,  war  broke  out  be- 
tween Thebes  and  Sparta.  At  the  battle  of 
Leuctra  (371)  the  strife  ended  in  the  triumph 
of  the  Thebans,  who  therefore  were  supreme 
in  Greece  for  the  next  nine  years.  They  in- 
vaded the  Peloponnesus  four  times,  and  finally 
defeated  the  Spartans  and  their  allies  at  the 
battle  of  Mantinea  in  362.  From  359  to  336, 
Macedonia  gradually  assumed  power  and  im- 
portance under  Philip.  Athens  had  regained 
some  of  her  old  power  since  378,  but  the  Social 
War  broke  out  in  357  and  she  speedily  lost  it. 
The  Holy  War  against  the  Phocians,  who  had 
incurred  the  hostility  of  the  Amphictyonic 
Council  by  their  sacrilegious  acts,  lasted  from 
355  to  346.  Philip  was  elected  head  of  the 
Council.  The  national  party  at  Athens,  where 
Demosthenes  was  in  power,  formed  a  league 
of  the  Greek  States  against  Philip.  The  third 
Holy  War  (339-338)  ended  with  the  defeat 
of  the  Thebans  and  Athenians  at  Cheronea.] 


END    OF    THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 
BATTLE    OF    CHERONEA 

(B.C.  338) 


P 


LEOPOLD  VON  RANKE 

HILIP  and  Athens  were  now  engaged 
for  the  second  time  in  open  conflict. 
Philip's  first  step  was  an  attack  upon 
the  fortified  town  of  Perinthus.  This  town, 
built  in  terraces  along  the  coast,  contained 
an  industrious  and  courageous  population. 
Philip  had  already  succeeded  in  carrying  the 
outer  walls,  and  the  fall  of  the  inner  town  was 
expected,  when  some  Athenian  mercenaries 
made  their  appearance.  It  was  Persian  gold 
Athens^"'^  which  paid  these  troops,  for  the  Persians  were 
as  anxious  as  the  Athenians  not  to  let  the  Mac- 
edonian monarchygain  control  over  the  straits, 
whose  possession  was  of  such  world-wide  im- 
portance. In  those  regions,  where  different  na- 
tionalities have,  in  all  periods  of  the  world's 
history,  come  into  collision,  since  no  state  will 
allow  another  to  possess  them,  a  very  unex- 
pected, but  at  the  same  time  natural,  union  of 
Greek  and  Persian  interests  took  place.  The 
result  was  that  Philip  had  to  raise  the  siege 
of  Perinthus  (B.C.  340-339). 

(324) 


B.C.  338  BATTLE    OF    CHERONEA  325 

The  scene  of  action  now  shifted  to  Byzan- 
tium.    Here  the  Athenians  were  able  to  bring  faiiVat 

1-11  1  •  II-  Byzantium. 

their  whole  power  to  bear  against  the  king. 
Chares  drove  the  Macedonian  fleet  out  of  the 
Golden  Horn.  Phocion,  who  owed  his  ref- 
uge in  Byzantium  to  the  fame  of  his  virtue, 
defended  the  fortifications  on  the  land  side. 
Here,  too,  Philip  had  to  retreat.  But  his  com- 
binations had  never  been  on  a  wider  or  more 
magnificent  scale.  By  an  expedition  against 
the  Scythians  he  hoped  to  get  possession  of 
the  mouths  of  the  Danube.  He  would  then 
have  become  master  of  the  Black  Sea,  after 
which  the  Greek  colonies  in  that  quarter 
would  have  been  unable  long  to  maintain  their 
independence.  But  in  these  lands  there  still 
existed  free  people,  whose  movements  were 
not  to  be  foreseen  or  calculated,  and  the  expe- 
dition against  the  Scythians  failed  to  attain 
its  aim.  It  was  not  altogether  unsuccessful, 
for  the  king  returned  richly  laden  with  booty, 
but  on  his  way  back  he  was  attacked  by  the 
Triballi,  who  inflicted  on  him  such  serious  loss 
that  he  had  to  relinquish  the  idea  of  making 
further  conquests  in  the  Thracian  Chersonese. 
The  Athenians,  who  were  hardly  aware  that 
they  had  allies  in  the  Triballi,  maintained,  in 
conjunction  with  the  Persians,  their  maritime 
supremacy.  Once  more  the  Athenian  navy 
proved  itself  a  match  for  the  Macedonian 
king,  and  the  general  position  of  affairs  would 
have  allowed  this  balance  of  power  to  exist 


326  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  338 

for  a  time  if  the  old  feud  about  the  shrine  of 
Delphi  had  not  been  revived. 

The  cause  of  this  was,  politically  speaking, 
Kwwn  insignificant.  It  was  a  quarrel  on  a  point  of 
andAthens.  honor,  such  as  when  Pericles  and  Sparta  were 
rivals'  for  the  Promanteia.  This  time  the  ri- 
valry was  between  Thebes  and  Athens.  The 
Athenians  had  restored  a  votive  offering  in 
Delphi,  the  inscription  on  which  commemo- 
rated the  victories  they  had  won  alike  over  the 
Persians  and  the  Thebans.  The  Thebans  felt 
this  insult  the  more  keenly  because  their  re- 
lations had,  since  that  time,  undergone  a  com- 
plete transformation.  At  the  next  meeting 
of  the  Amphictyonic  Council,  at  which  en- 
voys from  Athens  again  took  part,  the  Hi- 
eromnemon  of  Amphissa,  the  chief  town  of 
the  Ozolian  Locrians,  brought  the  matter  for- 
ward. It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Lo- 
crians were  especial  enemies  of  the  Phocians, 
and  the  most  zealous  supporters  of  the  Del- 
phian god.     In  the  course  of  his  speech  the 

The  Athe-      t  t  • 

niansare  Hicromnemon  gave  utterance  to  sentmients 
offensive  to  the  Athenians,  whom  he  could  not 
forgive  for  their  alliance  with  the  Phocians. 
He  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  their  presence 
could  not  be  tolerated  in  the  holy  place.  One 
of  the  envoys  of  Athens  was  the  orator 
Eschines,  who  was  not  himself  Hieromne- 
mon,  but  acted  as  his  deputy.  Far  from  seek- 
ing to  excuse  the  Athenians,  he  turned  the 
tables  on  the  people  of  Amphissa  by  charging 


B.C.338  BATTLE    OF    CHERONEA  327 

them  with  seizing  the  property  of  the  Del- 
phian god,  namely,  the  harbor  of  Cirrha,  which 
was  visible  from  the  place  of  meeting.  After 
the  victories  of  Philip,  public  opinion  had 
turned  strongly  in  favor  of  protecting  the  pos- 
sessions of  the  temple.  Eschines  succeeded 
in  persuading  the  Amphictyons  to  undertake 
the  expulsion  of  the  Locrians  from  their  new 
possession.  They  were  naturally  resisted,  and 
the  resistance  they  met  with  was  stigmatized 
as  sacrilege.  It  was  resolved  to  hold  a  special 
sitting  of  the  Amphictyonic  Council,  in  order 
to  deal  with  the  question. 

Demosthenes  was  alarmed  when  he  heard 
of  this  challenge.     To  wage  war  on  behalf  of  oemos- 

o  o  thenes. 

the  Amphictyons  and  the  shrine  of  Delphi 
was  totally  at  variance  with  the  established 
policy  of  Athens,  which  had  hitherto  counte- 
nanced encroachments  on  the  shrine.  Was 
Athens  now  to  take  part  in  a  war  in  favor  of 
the  Amphictyony — that  is,  in  favor  of  King 
Philip,  who  was  at  the  head  of  the  league? 
Such  was  the  counsel  of  Eschines,  in  whose 
eye  the  piety  and  justice  of  the  war  over- 
balanced other  considerations.  He  hoped  to 
make  use  of  this  opportunity  in  order,  with 
the  consent  of  Philip,  to  wrest  Oropus,  long 
subject  of  dispute,  from  the  Thebans.  De- 
mosthenes set  himself  against  this  plan  with 
all  the  force  of  his  political  convictions.  Here 
we  may  remark  the  radical  distinction  between 
the  two  orators.     The  one  was  attracted  by  a 


328  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  8.0.338 

momentary  advantage,  the  other  kept  the  gen- 
eral state  of  affairs  consistently  in  view.  At 
the  same  time  we  are  struck  by  the  incapacity 
of  a  democratic  assembly  for  the  conduct  of 
affairs  when  great  political  interests  are  con- 
cerned. Such  an  assembly  is  a  slave  to  the 
impulse  of  the  moment,  and  to  the  impres- 
sions of  the  tribune.  Further  than  this,  the 
personal  rivalry  of  the  two  orators  made  itself 
felt  in  decisions  of  the  greatest  moment.  At 
first  Eschines  succeeded  in  passing  a  resolu- 
tion to  declare  war  against  Amphissa.  There- 
upon Demosthenes  passed  another  resolution 
directly  at  variance  with  the  first,  against 
taking  sides  with  the  Amphictyons,  or  even 
sending  envoys  to  the  contemplated  meeting. 
Here  was  a  change  of  front  indeed!  In  the 
first  vote  were  involved  peace  and  friendship 
with  Philip;  the  second  vote  meant  nothing 
short  of  hostilities  against  him.  The  people 
of  Amphissa,  at  first  rejected,  were  immedi- 
ately afterward  taken  into  favor.  Thus  en- 
couraged they  showed  a  bolder  front  to  the 
Amphictyons. 

Here  we  are  compelled  to  ask  whether  the 
Huappar-  great  master  of  eloquence  did  not  lay  himself 
frstency""  opeu  to  the  charge  of  inconsistency.  How 
was  it  that  he  counselled  resistance  to  the 
Amphictyons  and  therefore  at  the  same  time 
to  King  Philip,  a  proceeding  which  he  had 
always  denounced  as  in  the  highest  degree 
dangerous?     He  defended  this  policy  on  the 


B.C.  338  BATTLE    OF    CHERONEA  329 

ground  that  Athens  was  already  at  open  war 
with  Philip,  and  that  she  could  not  possibly 
be  allied,  in  a  question  of  internal  politics, 
with  a  prince  against  whom  she  was  fighting 
elsewhere.  For  Philip,  however,  no  step 
could  have  been  mo-re  advantageous.  Too 
weak  at  sea  to  resist  Athens  on  that  element, 
he  was  now  provided  with  occasion  and  pre- 
text for  bringing  his  overpowering  land  force 
into  the  field  against  her.  At  the  invitation 
of  the  Thessalians,  he  led  his  army  into  Thes- 
saly.  The  Amphictyons  appointed  him  Stra- 
tegus,  with  independent  and  irresponsible  au- 
thority— for  that  is  the  meaning  of  the  word 
"autocr^tor,"  which  was  added  to  the  title  of 
Strategus. 

Thus  provided  with  legal  authority  he  ap- Thebes 
peared  in  the  winter  of  339-338  in  Hellas.  PMip. 
Neither  the  Locrians,  though  aided  by  an 
Athenian  contingent,  nor  the  people  of  Am- 
phissa,  were  able  to  resist  him.  It  was  prob- 
ably owing  to  a  false  report,  spread  by  him- 
self, that  he  was  allowed  a  free  passage 
through  Thermopylae.  He  then  occupied 
Elateia,  which  secured-  his  retreat  to  Mace- 
donia. These  advances  produced  yet  another 
revolution  in  panhellenic  affairs.  Thebes, 
after  having  promoted  the  Amphictyonic  wax 
against  Phicis,  and  after  assisting  Philip  in 
his  other  movements,  now  deserted  his  side. 
No  Theban  envoys  appeared  at  an  extraor- 
dinary assembly  of  the  Amphictyons,  which 


330  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  338 

met  at  Pylae.  We  may  infer  that  the  The- 
bans  were  anxious  lest  Philip,  after  overpow- 
ering Athens,  should  turn  his  arms  against 
themselves;  and  undoubtedly  their  anxiety 
was  well  founded.  Thebes  had,  on  a  previ- 
ous occasion,  actively  contributed  to  the  over- 
throw of  the  Lacedemonian  power  and  the 
rule  of  the  Thirty  Tyrants  in  Attica.  This 
had  revived  the  power  of  Athens,  which  in 
return  aided  Thebes  in  the  recovery  of  its 
independence.  It  was  not  likely  that  the 
Thebans  would  stand  by  and  see  Athens 
crushed  by  Philip.  The  ofifence  which  they 
had  taken  at  the  votive  shield  was  soon  for- 
gotten, but,  unfortunately,  there  was  another 
very  intelligible  ground  of  jealousy  between 
oropusa  thc  two  citics.  This  was  the  seaport  of  Oro- 
feTiousy"'  pus,  then  in  the  hands  of  the  Thebans,  a 
port  much  coveted  by  Athens  on  account  of 
its  convenience  for  the  trade  with  Eubea. 
Eschines  had  hoped  that  Athens,  by  the  aid 
of  Philip,  would  be  able  to  take  permanent 
possession  of  this  town.  Here  he  was  op- 
posed by  Demosthenes.  If  King  Philip  was 
ever  again  to  be  successfully  resisted,  it  could 
only  be  done  by  the  restoration  of  a  good 
understanding  between  Athens  and  Thebes. 
Thus,  and  thus  only,  could  a  power  be  formed 
capable  of  taking  up  the  cudgels  with  Philip. 
The  idea  of  this  alliance  was  in  the  mind  of 
Demosthenes  day  and  night. 

That  the  alliance  came  about  is  to  be  re- 


B.C.  338  BATTLE    OF    CHERONEA  ^     331 

garded  as  the  greatest  service  which  Demos- 
thenes rendered  at  this  crisis.  He  succeeded  in 
persuading  the  Athenians — and  it  could  have 
been  no  easy  matter  to  persuade  them — to  give 
up  the  claim  upon  Oropus,  which,  they  had 
hitherto  strenuously  maintained.  The  victory 
which  Demosthenes  won  in  Athens  was  a 
victory  of  national  interests  over  a  separatist 
policy.  Immediately  afterward  he  went  in 
person  to  Thebes.  By  recognizing  the  head- 
ship of  Thebes  in  Beotia,  in  spite  of  all 
Philip's  commands  and  threats,  he  succeeded 
in  consummating  the  alliance  of  the  two  cities, 
on  the  success  of  which  the  very  existence  of 

■'  The 

the  Greek  community  depended.  All  Greece  *"'*"<=^- 
was  thereupon  traversed  by  embassies  from 
either  party.  Philip  persuaded  the  Messe- 
nians,  the  Arcadians,  and  the  people  of  Elis  to 
take  no  part  in  the  war.  From  the  Spartans 
he  had  nothing  to  fear,  for  at  this  moment 
they  were  occupied  with  an  expedition  to 
Italy,  in  order  to  support  Tarentum  against 
the  Lucanians.  But  there  were  a  few  states 
who  clung  fast  to  the  idea  of  a  panhellenic 
bond.  Athens  and  Thebes  found  allies  in  the 
Eubeans  and  the  Acheans,  in  the  inhabitants 
of  Corinth  and  Megara,  as  well  as  in  the  dis- 
tant Leucadians  and  Corcyreans. 

In  Athens,  as  well  as  in  Beotia,  there  were 
many  who  would  have  preferred  peace,  but 
the  orator  had  united  the  two  capitals  with 
too  strong  a  chain.    When  the  Athenians  ap- 


382  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  338 

peared  before  Thebes  they  were  received,  con- 
trary to  the  habit  of  previous  centuries,  with 
a  hearty  welcome.  The  combined  armies 
took  the  field  together.  The  first  skirmishes 
that  took  place  turned  out  well  for  the  allied 
cities,  and  a  golden  crown  was  voted  in  Athens 
to  Demosthenes.  But  secular  enthusiasm  was 
premature  in  thinking  that  success  was  at- 
tained.    In  the  very  first  movements  of  the 

Philip's  su-  ■' 

p^^j°^ip^^"- war  the  superior  generalship  of  Philip  was 
displayed.  He  drove  the  Thebans  from  their 
position  of  vantage  by  attacking  Beotia  in  their 
rear.  The  Thebans,  impelled  by  their  terri- 
torial sympathies,  despatched  a  portion  of  their 
forces  in  that  direction,  and  Philip  was  thus 
enabled  to  occupy  the  plain  of  Cheronea,  a 
position  very  favorable  for  deploying  his 
cavalry. 

It  was  on  this  field  that  the  two  hosts  met 
for  the  decisive  conflict.  Philip  commanded 
an  army  fully  equipped  and  accustomed  to 
combined  action,  and  he  commanded  it  with 
unequalled  skill.  He  had  turned  to  his  own 
use  the  experiences  of  Theban  and  Athenian 
commanders  during  several  decades.  Neither 
Thebes  nor  Athens  had  any  commander  of 
note  to  set  against  him.  Phocion,  the  only 
man  in  Athens  who  understood  the  art  of 
war,  kept  himself  purposely  out  of  the  way. 
The  organization  of  the  allied  forces  was  that 
which  had  become  traditional.  The  different 
contingents  were  arranged  according  to  the 


B.C.  338  BATTLE    OF    CHERONEA  338 

localities  which  supplied  them,  just  as  had 
been  the  case  in  the  Persian  wars.  The  army 
was  what  it  always  had  been,  a  citizen  militia 
from  the  different  towns  and  states.  Their 
individual  discipline  was  excellent,  but  col- 
lectively they  had  no  organization.  The  Athe- 
nians had  granted  a  certain  pre-eminence  to 
the  Theban  Theagenes,  but  they  had  not  con- 
ferred upon  him  the  powers  of  a  general.  OnThe^^iiies 
this  decisive  day  the  Greek  community  had  no  er-Tn'^cwef. 
commander-in-chief.  ^ 

The  Thebans,  whose  forces  were  most  nu- 
merous, had  to  withstand  the  severest  attack. 
They  were,  at  this  moment,  the  most  hated 
and  most  dangerous  enemies  of  Philip;  most 
hated  because  they  had  deserted  his  league; 
most  dangerous  because  in  their  contingent 
were  concentrated  the  remains  of  the  old 
Theban  army,  founded  by  Epaminondas,  and 
therefore  the  most  famous  military  force  of 
Greece.  Against  them  Philip  sent  the  bulk  of  B^ttieof 
his  forces,  under  the  command  of  his  son  Alex-  cheronea. 
ander.  He  himself,  with  a  body  of  his  choicest 
and  most  experienced  troops,  faced  the  Athe- 
nians. While  restricting  himself  to  holding 
the  Athenians  in  check,  he  allowed  the  main 
battle  to  take  place  between  the  bulk  of  the 
forces  and  the  Thebans.  The  latter  defended 
themselves  with  the  greatest  bravery.  Their 
leader,  Theagenes,  was  not  unworthy  of  his 
predecessors.  The  nucleus  of  the  Theban  re-xhesacred 
sistance  was  the  Sacred  Band,  whose  members 


3a4 


THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS 


BC-  338 


were  bound  by  mutual  oaths  never  to  desert 
each  other.  This  force,  without  doubt  the 
best  that  was  in  the  field,  was  now  overpow- 
ered by  the  superiority  of  Macedonian  gen- 
eralship. The  victory  has  been  ascribed  to 
the  youthful  Alexander,  but  it  must  really 
have  been  due  to  the  experienced  captains 
by  whom  he  was  assisted  in  the  command. 
The  Theban  line  was  eventually  broken — 
Alexander  is  said  to  have  ridden  it  down 
with  his  cavalry — and  Philip  now  advanced 
Defeat       against  the  Athenians  with  the  force  which  he 

of  the  '^ 

Athenians,  j^^^j  hithcrto  hcld  in  reserve.  At  the  first  onset 
they  are  said  to  have  fancied  that  they  were 
about  to  chase  the  king  from  the  field.  But 
Philip  remarked:  "The  Athenians  know  not 
how  to  win  a  victory" — a  remark  which  must 
have  meant  that  otherwise  they  would  not 
have  pursued  him  so  far  on  his  pretended  re- 
treat. Now  that  the  battle  had  gone  against 
the  Thebans,  and  the  troops  which  had  been 
victorious  in  that  quarter  pressed  forward 
against  the  allies,  who  were  drawn  up  with 
the  Athenians  and  were  under  Athenian  com- 
mand, Philip  turned  his  forces  against  the 
Athenians  themselves.  The  latter,  seeing  that 
all  was  over,  made  no  further  resistance,  and 
sufifered  a  complete  defeat.  Of  native  Athe- 
nians more  than  one  thousand  were  slain;  two 

Flight  of    thousand  were  taken  prisoners,  and  the  rest 

Demos-  n       ^    •  1  -a  11 

ihenes.  fled  m  complctc  panic.  Among  the  latter  was 
Demosthenes.    His  place  was  not  on  the  field 


D.C.  338  BATTLE    OF    CHERONEA  335 

of  battle,  but  in  the  tribune.  Philip  is  said  to 
have  ironically  repeated  the  beginning  of  a 
vote  against  himself,  which  happened  to  run 
in  the  iambic  metre,  and  in  which  "Demos- 
thenes the  son  of  Demosthenes  of  the  Peonian 
deme,"  is  mentioned  as  the  proposer.  The 
orator  was  defeated  by  the  Strategus,  and 
democratic  enthusiasm  by  military  experi- 
ence. The  speaker  who  roused  that  enthu- 
siasm gave  way  to  the  king  who  knew  the  use 
of  military  science.  The  power  of  the  tribune 
was  thrust  into  the  background  by  a  political 
force  which  recognized  no  authority  but  that 
of  arms. 

The  Athenians  were  afraid  that  Philip 
would  now  press  forward  against  their  city. 
But  this  could  hardly  have  been  his  intention, 
especially  after  the  failure  of  the  sieges  which 
he  had  lately  attempted.  It  was  on  pitched 
battles  that  his  superiority  depended.  More- 
over, he  was  satisfied  with  the  commanding 
position  which  his  victory  had  obtained  for 
him.  One  of  its  first  results,  and  the  most 
important  of  all,  was  that  the  party  favorable  the  defeat. 
to  him  in  Athens  now  again  took  the  lead.  He 
was  wise  enough  to  conciliate  resentment  by 
proofs  of  favor,  and  the  terms  of  peace  which 
he  offered  were  such  as  Athens  could  have  felt 
no  inducement  to  reject.  As  to  the  details 
we  are  ill  informed.  The  king  gave  Oropus 
back  to  Athens,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
she  had  to  cede  the  Thracian  Chersonese  with 


886  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  338 

some  of  her  subject  islands,  as  well  as  the  com- 
mand of  the  sea. 

In  Greece  itself  no  one  ventured  to  make 
further  resistance  to  the  king.  In  Eubea, 
in  the  first  place,  his  friends  took  the  lead  in 
every  city.  Chalcis  was  chastised  for  its  alli- 
ance with  Athens.  Thebes  was  secured  by  a 
Macedonian  garrison  in  the  Cadmeia.  The 
autonomy  of  the  Beotian  cities  was  restored, 
not,  however,  in  the  Athenian  interest,  but  in 
that  of  the  king.  His  first  care  was  hencefor- 
ward not  only  to  maintain  this  condition  of 
things,  but  to  anticipate  every  new  movement 
which  might  disturb  it. 

Death  of  [Philip  was  murdered  in  336  and  succeeded 
Philip.  i^y  j^jg  gQj^  Alexander,  who  immediately  set 
about  carrying  out  his  father's  plans  for  the 
invasion  of  Persia.  He  quelled  a  revolt  of 
Athens  and  Thebes,  destroying  the  latter  and 
selling  the  Thebans  into  slavery.  In  331,  an 
uprising  by  the  Spartans  was  also  quelled  on 
the  sanguinary  field  of  Megalopolis.  In  334, 
Alexander  crossed  the  Hellespont  and  de- 
feated the  generals  of  Darius  in  the  battle  of 
the  Granicus.  The  next  year  he  repeated  his 
success  at  the  battle  of  Issus  in  Cilicia.  After 
conquering  Syria,  Phenicia,  Palestine  and 
Egypt,  where  he  founded  Alexandria,  he  ad- 
vanced through  Mesopotamia  in  331,  and  won 
•     the  battle  of  Arbela  near  Nineveh.] 


THE     BATTLE     OF     ARBELA 

(B.C.  331) 

E.    S.    CREASY 

THE  enduring  importance  of  Alexander's 
conquests  is  to  be  estimated  not  by  the 
duration  of  his  own  life  and  empire, 
or  even  by  the  duration  of  the  kingdoms  which 
his  generals  after  his  death  formed  out  of 
the  fragments  of  that  mighty  dominion.  In 
every  region  of  the  world  that  he  traversed, 
Alexander  planted  Greek  settlements  and 
founded  cities,  in  the  populations  of  which 
the  Greek  element  at  once  asserted  its  pre- 
dominance. Among  his  successors,  the  Se- 
lucidae  and  Ptolemies  imitated  their  great  cap-  ^i^f^^^ 
tain  in  blending  schemes  of  civilization,  of 
commercial  intercourse,  and  of  literary  and 
scientific  research  with  all  their  enterprises 
of  military  aggrandizement  and  with  all  their 
systems  of  civil  administration.  Such  was 
the  ascendency  of  the  Greek  genius,  so  won- 
derfully comprehensive  and  assimilating  was 
the  cultivation  which  it  introduced,  that,  with- 
in thirty  years  after  Alexander  crossed  the 
Hellespont,  the  Greek  language  was  spoken 
in  every  country  from  the  shores  of  the  ^^gean 


THE  WORLD'S  GREAT  EVENTS 


B.C.  331 


to  the  Indus,  and  also  throughout  Egypt — not, 
leauaun-   Indccd,  whoUv  to  the  extirpation  of  the  native 

fluenceof  1  •      1  1         ,  r 

gtkcc  dialects,  but  it  became  the  language  or  every 
court,  of  all  literature,  of  every  judicial  and 
political  function,  and  formed  a  medium  of 
communication  among  the  many  myriads  of 
mankind  inhabiting  these  large  portions  of  the 
Old  World.  Throughout  Asia  Minor,  Syria, 
and  Egypt,  the  Hellenic  character  that  was 
thus  imparted  remained  in  full  vigor  down  to 
the  time  of  the  Mohammedan  conquests.  The 
infinite  value  of  this  to  humanity  in  the  high- 
est and  holiest  point  of  view  has  often  been 
pointed  out,  and  the  workings  of  the  finger  of 
Providence  have  been  gratefully  recognized 
by  those  who  have  observed  how  the  early 
growth  and  progress  of  Christianity  were 
aided  by  that  diffusion  of  the  Greek  language 
and  civilization  throughout  Asia  Minor, 
Syria,  and  Egypt,  which  had  been  caused 
by  the  Macedonian  conquest  of  the  East. 

In  Upper  Asia,  beyond  the  Euphrates,  the 
direct  and  material  influence  of  Greek  as- 
cendency was  more  short-lived.  Yet,  during 
the  existence  of  the  Hellenic  kingdoms  in  these 
regions,  especially  of  the  Greek  kingdom  of 
Bactria,  the  modern  Bokhara,  very  important 
effects  were  produced  on  the  intellectual  ten- 
dencies and  tastes  of  the  inhabitants  of  those 
countries,  and  of  the  adjacent  ones,  by  the  ani- 
mating contact  of  the  Grecian  spirit.  Much 
of  Hindu  science  and  philosophy,  much  of 


B.C.  331  THE    BATTLE    OF    ARBELA  339 

the  literature  of  the  later  Persian  kingdom  of 
the  Arsacidae,  either  originated  from,  or  was 
largely  modified  by,  Grecian  influences.  So, 
also,  the  learning  and  science  of  the  Arabians 
were  in  a  far  less  degree  the  result  of  original 
invention  and  genius  than  the  reproduction, 
in  an  altered  form,  of  the  Greek  philosophy 
and  the  Greek  lore,  acquired  by  the  Saracenic 
conquerors,  together  with  their  acquisition  of 
the  provinces  which  Alexander  had  subju- 
gated nearly  a  thousand  years  before  the 
armed  disciples  of  Mohammed  commenced 
their  career  in  the  East.  It  is  well  known  that 
Western  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages  drew  its 
philosophy,  its  arts,  and  its  science  principally 
from  Arabian  teachers.  And  thus  we  see  how 
the  intellectual  influence  of  ancient  Greece 
poured  on  the  Eastern  world  by  Alexander's 
victories,  and  then  brought  back  to  bear  on 
Medieval  Europe  by  the  spread  of  the  Sara- 
cenic powers,  has  exerted  its  action  on  the  ele- 
ments of  modern  civilization  by  this  powerful 
though  indirect  channel,  as  well  as  by  the 
more  obvious  effects  of  the  remnants  of  classic 
civilization  which  survived  in  Italy,  Gaul, 
Britain,  and  Spain,  after  the  irruption  of  the 
Germanic  nations. 

Alexander's  victory  at  Arbela  not  only  over-  Effect  of 
threw  an  Oriental  dynasty,  but  established  Eu-  viao^y!*"* 
ropean  rulers  in  its  stead.     It  broke  the  mo- 
notony of  the  Eastern  world  by  the  impression 
of  Western  energy  and  superior  civilization. 


340  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  331 


Arbela,  the  city  which  has  furnished  its 
ground.  ^  name  to  the  decisive  battle  which  gave  Asia 
to  Alexander,  lies  more  than  twenty  miles 
from  the  actual  scene  of  conflict.  The  little 
village,  then  named  Gaugamela,  is  close  to 
the  spot  where  the  armies  met,  but  has  ceded 
the  honor  of  naming  the  battle  to  its  more 
euphonious  neighbor.  Gaugamela  is  situate 
in  one  of  the  wide  plains  that  lie  between  the 
Tigris  and  the  mountains  of  Kurdistan.  A  few 
undulating  hillocks  diversify  the  surface  of 
this  sandy  track;  but  the  ground  is  generally 
level  and  admirably  qualified  for  the  evolu- 
tions of  cavalry,  and  also  calculated  to  give 
the  larger  of  two  armies  the  full  advantage 
of  numerical  superiority.  The  Persian  king 
(who,  before  he  came  to  the  throne,  had 
proved  his  personal  valor  as  a  soldier  and  his 
skill  as  a  general)  had  wisely  selected  this 
region  for  the  third  and  decisive  encounter 
between  his  forces  and  the  invader.  The  pre- 
vious defeats  of  his  troops,  however  severe 
they  had  been,  were  not  looked  on  as  irrepara- 
ble. The  Granicus  had  been  fought  by  his 
generals  rashly  and  without  mutual  concert; 
and,  though  Darius  himself  had  commanded 
and  been  beaten  at  Issus,  that  defeat  might  be 
attributed  to  the  disadvantageous  nature  of 
the  ground,  where,  cooped  up  between  the 
mountains,  the  river,  and  the  sea,  the  numbers 
of  the  Persians  confused  and  clogged  alike 
the  general's  skill  and  the  soldier's  prowess, 


B.C.  331 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARBELA  341 


and  their  very  strength  had  been  made  their 
weakness.  Here,  on  the  broad  plains  of  Kur- 
distan, there  was  scope  for  Asia's  largest  host 
to  array  its  lines,  to  wheel,  to  skirmish,  to  con- 
dense or  expand  its  squadrons,  to  manoeuvre, 
and  to  charge  at  will.  Should  Alexander  and 
his  scanty  band  dare  to  plunge  into  that  living 
sea  of  war,  their  destruction  seemed  inevitable. 

Darius  felt,  however,  the  critical  nature  to  ^j^^ ^^.^.^, 
himself  as  well  as  to  his  adversary  of  the  com- t"he"co^ntest. 
ing  encounter.  He  could  not  hope  to  retrieve 
the  consequences  of  a  third  overthrow.  The 
great  cities  of  Mesopotamia  and  Upper  Asia, 
the  central  provinces  of  the  Persian  empire, 
were  certain  to  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  victor. 
Darius  knew  also  the  Asiatic  character  well 
enough  to  be  aware  how  it  yields  to  the  pres- 
tige of  success  and  the  apparent  career  of  des- 
tiny. He  felt  that  the  diadem  was  now  to  be 
either  firmly  replaced  on  his  own  brow,  or  to 
be  irrevocably  transferred  to  the  head  of  his 
European  conqueror.  He,  therefore,  during 
the  long  interval  left  him  after  the  battle  of 
Issus,  while  Alexander  was  subjugating  Syria 
and  Egypt,  assiduously  busied  himself  in  se- The  army 
lecting  the  best  troops  which  his  vast  empire ° 
supplied,  and  in  training  his  varied  forces  to 
act  together  with  some  uniformity  of  disci- 
pline and  system. 

Besides  these  picked  troops,  contingents  also 
came  in  from  the  numerous  other  provinces 
that  yet  obeyed  the  Great  King.     Altogether, 


342  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  bx.  331 

the  horse  are  said  to  have  been  forty  thousand, 
the  scythe-bearing  chariots  two  hundred,  and 
the  armed  elephants  fifteen  in  number.  The 
amount  of  the  infantry  is  uncertain;  but  the 
knowledge  which  both  ancient  and  modern 
times  supply  of  the  usual  character  of  Ori- 
ental armies,  and  of  their  populations  of 
camp-followers,  may  warrant  us  in  believing 
that  many  myriads  were  prepared  to  fight, 
or  to  encumber  those  who  fought,  for  the  last 
Darius. 

His  great  antagonist  came  on  across  the  Eu- 
phrates against  him,  at  the  head  of  an  army 
which  Arrian,  copying  from  the  journals  of 
Macedonian  officers,  states  to  have  consisted 
of  forty  thousand  foot  and  seven  thousand 
horse. 

The  army  which  Alexander  now  led  was 
Ai'e'^nder  ^^holly  composcd  of  veteran  troops  in  the 
highest  possible  state  of  equipment  and  dis- 
cipline, enthusiastically  devoted  to  their  lead- 
er, and  full  of  confidence  in  his  military 
genius  and  his  victorious  destiny. 

The  celebrated  Macedonian  phalanx  formed 
the  main  strength  of  his  infantry.  This  force 
had  been  raised  and  organized  by  his  father 
Philip,  who,  on  his  accession  to  the  Macedo- 
nian throne,  needed  a  numerous  and  quickly- 
formed  army,  and  who,  by  lengthening  the 
spear  of  the  ordinary  Greek  phalanx,  and 
increasing  the  depths  of  the  files,  brought  the 
tactic  of  armed  masses  to  the  highest  extent 


B.C.  331 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARBELA  3i3 


of  which  it  was  capable  with  such  materials 
as  he  possessed.  He  formed  his  men  sixteen 
deep,  and  placed  in  their  grasp  the  sarissa, 

r1  f  !=>  f  -'Weapons  of 

as  the  Macedonian  pike  was  called,  which  ^^^^^^JllT' 
four-and-twenty  feet  in  length,  and  when 
couched  for  action,  reached  eighteen  feet  in 
front  of  the  soldier;  so  that,  as  a  space  of  about 
two  feet  was  allowed  between  the  ranks,  the 
spears  of  the  five  files  behind  him  projected 
in  front  of  each  front-rank  man.  The  pha- 
langite  soldier  was  fully  equipped  in  the  de- 
fensive armor  of  the  regular  Greek  infantry. 
And  thus  the  phalanx  presented  a  ponderous 
and  bristling  mass,  which,  as  long  as  its  order 
was  kept  compact,  was  sure  to  bear  down  all 
opposition. 

Besides  the  phalanx,  Alexander  had  a  con- 
siderable force  of  infantry  who  were  called 
shield-bearers :  they  were  not  so  heavily  armed 
as  the  phalangites,  or  as  was  the  case  with  the 
Greek  regular  infantry  in  general,  but  they 
were  equipped  for  close  fight  as  well  as  for 
skirmishing,  and  were  far  superior  to  the 
ordinary  irregular  troops  of  Greek  warfare. 
They  were  about  six  thousand  strong.  Be- 
sides these,  he  had  several  bodies  of  Greek 
regular  infantry;  and  he  had  archers,  slingers, 
and  javelin-men,  who  fought  also  with  broad- 
sword and  target,  and  who  were  principally 
supplied  by  the  highlanders  of  Illyria  and 
Thracia.  The  main  strength  of  his  cavalry 
consisted  in  two  chosen  regiments  of  cuiras- 


344  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  331 


Alexander 
crosses  the 
Euphrates. 


siers,  one  Macedonian  and  one  Thessalian, 
each  of  which  was  about  fifteen  hundred 
strong. 

A  little  before  the  end  of  August,  Alexan- 
der crossed  the  Euphrates  at  Thapsacus,  a 
small  corps  of  Persian  cavalry  under  Mazeus 
retiring  before  him.  Alexander  was  too  pru- 
dent to  march  down  through  the  Mesopota- 
mian  deserts,  and  continued  to  advance  east- 
ward with  the  intention  of  passing  the  Tigris, 
and  then,  if  he  were  unable  to  find  Darius  and 
bring  him  to  action,  of  marching  southward 
on  the  left  side  of  that  river  along  the  skirts 
of  a  mountainous  district  where  his  men  would 
sufifer  less  from  heat  and  thirst,  and  where  pro- 
visions would  be  more  abundant. 

Darius,  finding  that  his  adversary  was  not 
to  be  enticed  into  the  march  through  Mesopo- 
tamia against  his  capital,  determined  to  re- 
main on  the  battle-ground,  which  he  had 
chosen  on  the  left  of  the  Tigris;  where,  if  his 
enemy  met  a  defeat  or  a  check,  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  invaders  would  be  certain  with  two 
such  rivers  as  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris  in 
their  rear.  The  Persian  king  availed  himself 
to  the  utmost  of  every  advantage  in  his  power. 
He  caused  a  large  space  of  ground  to  be  care- 
fully levelled  for  the  operation  of  his  scythe- 
armed  chariots;  and  he  deposited  his  military 
stores  in  the  strong  town  of  Arbela,  about 
twenty  miles  in  his  rear. 

On  learning  that  Darius  was  with  a  large 


B.C.33I  THE  BATTLE  OF  ARBELA  345 

army  on  the  left  of  the  Tigris,  Alexander  hur- 
ried forward  and  crossed  that  river  without  a4"isW. 

self  of 

opposition.     He  was  at  first  unable  to  procure  ^l^^^^^; 
any  certain  intelligence  of  the  precise  position 
of  the  enemy,  and  after  giving  his  army  a  short 
interval  of  rest,  he  marched  for  four  days  down 
the  left  bank  of  the  river. 

On  the  fourth  day  of  Alexander's  south- 
ward march,  his  advanced  guard  reported  that 
a  body  of  the  enemy's  cavalry  was  in  sight. 
He  instantly  formed  his  army  in  order  for 
battle,  and  directing  them  to  advance  steadily, 
he  rode  forward  at  the  head  of  some  squadrons 
of  cavalry,  and  charged  the  Persian  horse 
whom  he  found  before  him.  This  was  a  mere 
reconnoitring  party,  and  they  broke  and  fled 
immediately;  but  the  Macedonians  made  some 
prisoners,  and  from  them  Alexander  found 
that  Darius  was  posted  only  a  few  miles  ofif, 
and  learned  the  strength  of  the  army  that  he 
had  with  him.  On  receiving  this  news  Alex-  ^l^^;^^ 
ander  halted,  and  gave  his  men  repose  for  four  '=^"^'°"^- 
days,  so  that  they  should  go  into  action  fresh 
and  vigorous.  He  also  fortified  his  camp  and 
deposited  in  it  all  his  military  stores,  and  all 
his  sick  and  disabled  soldiers,  intending  to  ad- 
vance upon  the  enemy  with  the  serviceable 
part  of  his  army  perfectly  unincumbered. 
After  this  halt,  he  moved  forward,  while  it 
was  yet  dark,  with  the  intention  of  reaching 
the  enemy,  and  attacking  them  at  break  of 
day.      About    half-way   between    the    camps 


846  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c  331 

there  were  some  undulations  of  the  ground, 
which  concealed  the  two  armies  from  each 
other's  view;  but,  on  Alexander  arriving  at 
their  summit,  he  saw,  by  the  early  light,  the 
Persian  host  arrayed  before  him,  and  he  prob- 
ably also  observed  traces  of  some  engineering 
operation  having  been  carried  on  along  part 
of  the  ground  in  front  of  them.  Not  knowing 
that  these  marks  had  been  caused  by  the  Per- 
sians having  levelled  the  ground  for  the  free 
use  of  their  war-chariots,  Alexander  suspected 
that  hidden  pitfalls  had  been  prepared  with 
a  view  of  disordering  the  approach  of  his  cav- 
alry. He  summoned  a  council  of  war  forth- 
with. Some  of  the  officers  were  for  attacking 
instantly,  at  all  hazards;  but  the  more  prudent 
opinion  of  Parmenio  prevailed,  and  it  was  de- 
termined not  to  advance  further  till  the  battle- 
ground had  been  carefully  surveyed. 

Alexander  halted  his  army  on  the  heights, 
Herecon-  and  taking  with  him  some  light-armed  infan- 
try and  some  cavalry,  he  passed  part  of  the 
day  in  reconnoitring  the  enemy,  and  observ- 
ing the  nature  of  the  ground  which  he  had  to 
fight  on.  Darius  wisely  refrained  from  mov- 
ing his  position  to  attack  the  Macedonians  on 
the  eminences  which  they  occupied,  and  the 
two  armies  remained  until  night  without  mo- 
lesting each  other.  On  Alexander's  return 
to  headquarters,  having  briefly  instructed  his 
generals,  he  ordered  that  the  army  should  sup, 
and  take  their  rest  for  the  night. 


noitres. 


B.C.  33' 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARBELA  347 


The  Persians  expected  and  were  prepared 
to  meet  a  night  attack.  Such  was  the  appre- 
hension that  Darius  entertained  of  it,  that  he 
formed  his  troops  at  evening  in  order  of  bat- 
tle, and  kept  them  under  arms  all  night.  The 
effect  of  this  was,  that  the  morning  found  them 
jaded  and  dispirited,  while  it  brought  their 
adversaries  all  fresh  and  vigorous  against 
them. 

The  written  order  of  battle  v/hich  Darius 
himself  caused  to  be  drawn  up,  falling  into  the 
hands  of  the  Macedonians  after  the  engage- 
ment, Aristobulus  copied  it  into  his  journal. 
On  the  extreme  left  were  the  Bactrian,  Daan, 
and  Arachosian  cavalry.  Next  to  these  Da- 
rius placed  the  troops  from  Persia  proper, 
both  horse  and  foot.     Then  came  the  Susians,  Disposition 

of  the  Per- 

and  next  to  these  the  Cadusians.  These  forces  sianamy. 
made  up  the  left  wing.  Darius's  own  station 
was  in  the  centre.  This  was  composed  of  the 
Indians,  the  Carians,  the  Mardian  archers, 
and  the  division  of  Persians  who  were  distin- 
guished by  the  golden  apples  that  formed  the 
knobs  of  their  spears.  Here  also  were  sta- 
tioned the  bodyguard  of  the  Persian  nobility. 
Besides  these,  there  were,  in  the  centre,  formed 
in  deep  order,  the  Uxian  and  Babylonian 
troops,  and  the  soldiers  from  the  Red  Sea. 
The  brigade  of  Greek  mercenaries,  whom  Da- 
rius had  in  his  service,  and  who  alone  were 
considered  fit  to  stand  the  charge  of  the  Mace- 
donian phalanx,  was  drawn  up  on  either  side 


348  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  8.0331 

of  the  royal  chariot.  The  right  wing  was 
composed  of  the  Celosyrians  and  Mesopota- 
mians,  the  Medes,  the  Parthians,  the  Sacians, 
the  Tapurians,  Hycanians,  Albanians,  and 
Sacesinae.  In  advance  of  the  line  on  the  left 
wing  were  placed  the  Scythian  cavalry,  with 
a  thousand  of  the  Bactrian  horse,  and  a  hun- 
dred scythe-armed  chariots.  The  elephants 
and  fifty  scythe-armed  chariots  were  ranged 
in  front  of  the  centre,  and  fifty  more  chariots, 
with  the  Armenian  and  Cappadocian  cavalry, 
were  drawn  up  in  advance  of  the  right  wing. 
Thus  arrayed,  the  great  host  of  King  Darius 
passed  the  night,  that  to  many  thousands  of 
them  was  the  last  of  their  existence. 

There  was  deep  need  of  skill,  as  well  as  of 
Aiexan-  valor,  on  Alexander's  side;  and  few  battle- 
erlilh^p"'  fields  have  witnessed  more  consummate  gen- 
eralship than  was  displayed  by  the  Macedo- 
nian king.  There  were  no  natural  barriers  by 
which  he  could  protect  his  flanks;  and  not 
only  was  he  certain  to  be  overlapped  on  either 
wing  by  the  vast  lines  of  the  Persian  army, 
but  there  was  imminent  risk  of  their  circling 
round  him,  and  charging  him  in  the  rear,  while 
he  advanced  against  their  centre.  He  formed, 
therefore,  a  second  or  reserve  line,  which  was 
to  wheel  round,  if  required,  or  to  detach  troops 
to  either  flank,  as  the  enemy's  movements 
might  necessitate;  and  thus,  with  their  whole 
army  ready  at  any  moment  to  be  thrown  into 
one  vast  hollow  square,  the  Macedonians  ad- 


B.C.  331 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARBELA  349 


vanced  in  two  lines  against  the  enemy,  Alex- 
ander himself  leading  on  the  right  wing,  and 
the  renowned  phalanx  forming  the  centre, 
while  Parmenio  commanded  on  the  left. 

Conspicuous  by  the  brilliancy  of  his  armor, 
and  by  the  chosen  band  of  officers  who  were 
round  his  person,  Alexander  took  his  own  sta- 
tion, as  his  custom  was,  in  the  right  wing,  at 
the  head  of  his  cavalry;  and  when  all  the  ar- 
rangements for  the  battle  were  complete,  and 
his  generals  were  fully  instructed  how  to  act 
in  each  probable  emergency,  he  began  to  lead 
his  men  toward  the  enemy. 

Great  reliance  had  been  placed  by  the  Per- 
sian king  on  the  effect  of  the  scythe-bearing 
chariots.  It  was  designed  to  launch  these 
against  the  Macedonian  phalanx,  and  to  follow 
them  up  by  a  heavy  charge  of  cavalry,  which,  it 
was  hoped,  would  find  the  ranks  of  the  spear- 
men disordered  by  the  rush  of  the  chariots,  and 
easily  destroy  this  most  formidable  part  of 
Alexander's  force.  In  front,  therefore,  of  the 
Persian  centre,  where  Darius  took  his  station, 
and  which  it  was  supposed  the  phalanx  would 
attack,  the  ground  had  been  carefully  levelled 
and  smoothed,  so  as  to  allow  the  chariots  to 
charge  over  it  with  their  full  sweep  and  speed. 
As  the  Macedonian  army  approached  the 
Persian,  Alexander  found  that  the  front  of 
his  whole  line  barely  equalled  the  front  line 
of  the  Persian  centre,  so  that  he  was  out- 
flanked on  the  right  by  the  entire  left  wing  of 


The  Persian 
chariots. 


350  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  B.c.331 

the  enemy,  and  by  their  entire  right  wing  on 
the  left.  His  tactics  were  to  assail  some  one 
point  of  the  hostile  army,  and  gain  a  decisive 
advantage,  while  he  refused,  as  far  as  possible, 
the  encounter  along  the  rest  of  the  line.  He 
therefore  inclined  his  order  of  march  to  the 
right,  so  as  to  enable  his  right  wing  and  centre 
to  come  into  collision  with  the  enemy  on  as 
favorable  terms  as  possible,  although  the 
manoeuvre  might  in  some  respect  compro- 
mise his  left. 

The  efifect  of  this  oblique  movement  was  to 
bring  the  phalanx  and  his  own  wing  nearly 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  ground  which  the 
Persians  had  prepared  for  the  operations  of 
the  chariots;  and  Darius,  fearing  to  lose  the 
benefit  of  this  arm  against  the  most  important 
parts  of  the  Macedonian  force,  ordered  the 
Scythian  and  Bactrian  cavalry,  who  were 
S'combal'  drawn  up  in  advance  on  his  extreme  left,  to 
charge  round  upon  Alexander's  right  wing, 
and  check  its  further  lateral  progress.  Against 
these  assailants  Alexander  sent  from  his  sec- 
ond line  Menidas's  cavalry.  As  these  proved 
too  few  to  make  head  against  the  enemy,  he 
ordered  Arfston  also  from  the  second  line 
with  his  light  horse,  and  Cleander  with  his 
foot,  in  support  of  Menidas.  The  Bactrians 
and  Scythians  now  began  to  give  way,  but 
Darius  reinforced  them  by  the  mass  of  Bac- 
trian cavalry  from  his  main  line,  and  an  ob- 
stinate cavalry  fight  now  took  place.     The 


B.C.33I  THE  BATTLE  OF  ARBELA  351 

Bactrians  and  Scythians  were  numerous,  and 
were  better  armed  than  the  horsemen  under 
Menidas  and  Ariston ;  and  the  loss  at  first  was 
heaviest  on  the  Macedonian  side.  But  still 
the  European  cavalry  stood  the  charge  of  the 
Asiatics,  and  at  last,  by  their  superior  disci- 
pline, the  Macedonians  broke  their  adver- 
saries, and  drove  them  off  the  field. 

Darius  now  directed  the  scythe-armed  Charge 
chariots  to  be  driven  against  Alexander's  chlriots. 
horse-guards  and  the  phalanx,  and  these  for- 
midable vehicles  were  accordingly  sent  rat- 
tling across  the  plain,  against  the  Macedonian 
line.  But  the  Asiatic  chariots  were  rendered 
inefifective  at  Arbela  by  the  light-armed 
troops,  whom  Alexander  had  specially  ap- 
pointed for  the  service,  and  who,  wounding 
the  horses  and  drivers  with  their  missile 
weapons,  and  running  alongside  so  as  to 
cut  the  traces  or  seize  the  reins,  marred 
the  intended  charge;  and  the  few  chariots 
that  reached  the  phalanx  passed  harmlessly 
through  the  intervals  which  the  spearmen 
opened  for  them,  and  were  easily  captured  in 
the  rear. 

A  mass  of  Asiatic  cavalry  was  now,  for  the 
second    time,    collected    against   Alexander's  ry  agaiii  ' 

'  o  ^  engage. 

extreme  right,  and  moved  round  it,  with  the 
view  of  gaining  the  flank  of  his  army.  At  the 
critical  moment,  when  their  own  flanks  were 
exposed  by  this  evolution,  Aretes  dashed  on 
the  Persian  squadrons  with  his  horsemen  from 


352  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  331 

Alexander's  second  line.  While  Alexander 
thus  met  and  baffled  all  the  flanking  attacks 
of  the  enemy  with  troops  brought  up  from  his 
second  line,  he  kept  his  own  horse-guards 
and  the  rest  of  the  front  line  of  his  wing 
fresh,  and  ready  to  take  advantage  of  the  first 
opportunity  for  striking  a  decisive  blow.  This 
soon  came.  A  large  body  of  horse,  who  were 
posted  on  the  Persian  left  wing  nearest  to  the 
centre,  quitted  their  station,  and  rode  ofT  to 
help  their  comrades  in  the  cavalry  fight,  that 
still  was  going  on  at  the  extreme  right  of 
Alexander's  wing  against  the  detachments 
from  his  second  line.  This  made  a  huge  gap 
^laJ^M^*^  in  the  Persian  array,  and  into  this  space  Alex- 
gilLrd.'^  ander  instantly  charged  with  his  guard  and  all 
the  cavalry  of  his  wing;  and  then  pressing  to- 
ward his  left,  he  soon  began  to  make  havoc 
in  the  left  flank  of  the  Persian  centre.  The 
shield-bearing  infantry  now  charged  also 
among  the  reeling  masses  of  the  Asiatics;  and 
five  of  the  brigades  of  the  phalanx,  with  the 
irresistible  might  of  their  sarissas,  bore  down 
the  Greek  mercenaries  of  Darius,  and  dug 
their  way  through  the  Persian  centre.  In  the 
early  part  of  the  battle  Darius  had  shown 
skill  and  energy;  and  he  now,  for  some  time, 
encouraged  his  men,  by  voice  and  example,  to 
keep  firm.  But  the  lances  of  Alexander's  cav- 
airy  and  the  pikes  of  the  phalanx  now  pressed 
nearer  and  nearer  to  him.  His  charioteer  was 
struck  down  by  a  javelin  at  his  side;  and  at 


B.C.  331 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARBELA  353 


last  Darius's  nerve  failed  him,  and,  descend- 
ing from  his  chariot,  he  mounted  on  a  fleet  Danus 

°  '  flees. 

horse  and  galloped  from  the  plain,  regardless 
of  the  state  of  the  battle  in  other  parts  of  the 
field,  where  matters  were  going  on  much 
more  favorably  for  his  cause,  and  where  his 
presence  might  have  done  much  toward 
gaining  a  victory. 

Alexander's  operations  with  his  right  and 
centre  had  exposed  his  left  to  an  immensely 
preponderating  force  of  the  enemy.  Parme- 
nio  kept  out  of  action  as  long  as  possible;  but 
Mazeus,  who  commanded  the  Persian  right 
wing,  advanced  against  him,  completely  out- 
flanked him,  and  pressed  away  severely  with 
reiterated  charges  by  superior  numbers.  See-  Parmeniov 
ing  the  distress  of  Parmenio's  wing,  Simmias,  ^"^^'^^• 
who  commanded  the  sixth  brigade  of  the 
phalanx,  which  was  next  to  the  left  wing,  did 
not  advance  with  the  other  brigades  in  the 
great  charge  upon  the  Persian  centre,  but  kept 
back  to  cover  Parmenio's  troops  on  their  right 
flank,  as  otherwise  they  would  have  been  com- 
pletely surrounded  and  cut  off  from  the  rest 
of  the  Macedonian  army.  By  so  doing,  Sim- 
mias had  unavoidably  opened  a  gap  in  the 
Macedonian  left  centre,  and  a  large  column 
of  Indian  and  Persian  horse  from  the  Persian 
right  centre  had  galloped  forward  through 
this  interval,  and  right  through  the  troops  of 
the  Macedonian  second  line.  Instead  of  them 
wheeling  around  upon  Parmenio,  or  upon  the 


351  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  331 

rear  of  Alexander's  conquering  wing,  the  In- 
dian or  Persian  cavalry  rode  straight  on  to 
the  Macedonian  camp,  overpowered  the  Thra- 
cians  who  were  left  in  charge  of  it,  and  began 
to  plunder.  This  was  stopped  by  the  phalan- 
gite  troops  of  the  second  line,  who,  after  the 
enemy's  horsemen  had  rushed  by  them,  faced 
about,  countermarched  upon  the  camp,  killed 
many  of  the  Indians  and  Persians  in  the  act  of 
plundering,  and  forced  the  rest  to  ride  of? 
again.  Just  at  this  crisis  Alexander  had  been 
recalled  from  his  pursuit  of  Darius  by  tidings 
of  the  distress  of  Parmenio,  and  of  his  in- 
ability to  bear  up  any  longer  against  the  hot 
Alexander  ^ttacks  of  Mazcus.  Taking  his  horse-guards 
hastens  to  ^j^j^  j^jj^^  Alcxandcr  rode  toward  the  part  of 
the  field  where  his  left  wing  was  fighting; 
but  on  his  way  thither  he  encountered  the  Per- 
sian and  Indian  cavalry,  on  their  return  from 
his  camp. 

These  men  saw  that  their  only  chance  of 
safety  was  to  cut  their  way  through,  and  in  one 
huge  column  they  charged  desperately  upon 
the  Macedonian  regiments.  There  was  here 
a  close  hand-to-hand  fight,  which  lasted  some 
time,  and  sixty  of  the  royal  horse-guards  fell, 
and  three  generals  who  fought  close  to  Alex- 
ander's side  were  wounded.  At  length  the 
Macedonian  discipline  and  valor  again  pre- 
vailed, and  a  large  number  of  the  Persian  and 
Indian  horsemen  were  cut  down,  some  few 
only  succeeding  in  breaking  through  and  rid- 


B.C.  331  THE    BATTLE    OF    ARBELA  355 

ing  away.  Relieved  of  these  obstinate  ene- 
mies, Alexander  again  formed  his  regiments 
of  horse-guards,  and  led  them  toward  Par- 
menio;  but  by  this  time  that  general  also  was 
victorious.  Probably  the  news  of  Darius's 
flight  had  reached  Mazeus,  and  had  damped 
the  ardor  of  the  Persian  right  wing,  while 
the  tidings  of  their  comrades'  success  must 
have  proportionately  encouraged  the  Mace- 
donian forces  under  Parmenio.  His  Thessa- 
lian  cavalry  particularly  distinguished  them- 
selves by  their  gallantry  and  persevering 
good  conduct;  and  by  the  time  that  Alex- 
ander had  ridden  up  to  Parmenio,  the 
whole  Persian  army  was  m  full  flight  from^rmyflees. 
the  field. 

It  was  of  the  deepest  importance  to  Alex- 
ander to  secure  the  person  of  Darius,  and  he 
now  urged  on  the  pursuit.  The  river  Lycus 
was  between  the  field  of  battle  and  the  city  of 
Arbela,  whither  the  fugitives  directed  their 
course,  and  the  passage  of  this  river  was  even 
more  destructive  to  the  Persians  than  the 
swords  and  spears  of  the  Macedonians  had 
been  in  the  engagement.  The  narrow  bridge 
was  soon  choked  up  by  the  flying  thousands 
who  rushed  toward  it,  and  vast  numbers  of 
the  Persians  threw  themselves,  or  were  hur- 
ried by  others,  into  the  rapid  stream,  and  per- 
ished in  its  waters.  Darius  had  crossed  it,  and 
had  ridden  on  through  Arbela  without  halt- 
ing.   Alexander  reached  that  city  on  the  next 


356  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  331 

day,  and  made  himself  master  of  all  Darius's 
treasure  and  stores;  but  the  Persian  king,  un- 
fortunately for  himself,  had  fled  too  fast  for 
Death  of  his  conqueroT,  but  had  only  escaped  to  per- 
ish by  the  treachery  of  his  Bactrian  satrap, 
Bessus. 

A  few  days  after  the  battle  Alexander 
entered  Babylon,  "the  oldest  seat  of  earthly 
empire"  then  in  existence,  as  its  acknowledged 
lord  and  master.  There  were  yet  some  cam- 
paigns of  his  brief  and  bright  career  to  be  ac- 
complished. Central  Asia  was  yet  to  witness 
the  march  of  his  phalanx.  But  the  crisis  of 
his  career  was  reached;  the  great  object  of  his 
mission  was  accomplished;  and  the  ancient 
Persian  empire,  which  once  menaced  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth  with  subjection,  was  ir- 
reparably crushed  when  Alexander  had  won 
his  crow^ning  victory  at  Arbela. 

[On  the  death  of  Alexander,  in  323,  his  em- 
Aiexander.  pire  was  dividcd  among  his  generals,  between 
whom  war  immediately  broke  out.  These 
wars  of  the  Diadochi  lasted  from  323  to  276, 
the  Persian-Macedonian  empire  being  finally 
divided  up  into  five  monarchies — Egypt, 
Syria,  Pergamon,  Bithynia  and  Macedonia. 
The  Greek  states,  led  by  Athens,  tried  to 
throw  of¥  the  Macedonian  yoke  in  the  Lamian 
war  (323-322).  During  the  wars  of  the  Di- 
adochi, Athens  made  several  other  attempts 
to  regain  its  ancient  power,  but  was  finally 


B.C.  331 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARBELA  357 


subdued  by  the  Macedonians  in  263,  after  a 
three  years'  war.  In  280,  the  Etolian  League 
was  founded  and  the  Achean  League  was  re- 
newed. The  Etolian  League,  in  alliance  with 
Sparta,  defeated  the  Achean  League.  In 
206,  Philopemen,  "the  last  of  the  Greeks,"  de- 
feated the  Spartans  in  the  battle  of  Mantinea. 
Rome  was  now  actively  interested  in  Greek 
politics.  In  264,  the  First  Punic  War  began  pj^g^ 
and  was  waged  between  the  Romans  and  ^ar-^"""'^'"'" 
thaginians.  The  Carthaginians  at  first  had 
greatly  the  advantage  at  sea,  but  the  Romans 
gradually  learned,  and  won  a  naval  victory, 
which  made  their  enemies  sue  for  peace.  The 
war  ended  in  241.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  the  Roman  provinces.  Carthage  ceded  to 
Rome  her  possessions  in  Sicily.  Before  long 
Rome  also  gained  the  Carthaginian  posses- 
sions in  Sardinia  and  Corsica  (238).  The 
Carthaginian  dominion  was,  however,  extend- 
ing in  Spain.  lUyria  was  subjugated  by 
Rome  in  229-228;  and  Cisalpine  Gaul  in 
225-222.  An  army  of  seven  thousand  Gauls 
was  annihilated  in  the  battle  of  Telamon  in 
225. 

The  Carthaginian  acquisitions  in  Spain 
gave  rise  to  the  Second  Punic  War  (218-201 ).  second 
Hannibal  invaded  Italy  and  gained  victories  ^""'''^^^'" 
on  the  Ticinus  and  Trebia  in  218,  and  was 
joined  by  sixty  thousand  insurgents  in  Cisal- 
pine Gaul.  The  great  defeat  of  Lake  Trasi- 
mene  (217)   excited  terror  in  Rome,  but  the 


368  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  331 


Romans  suffered  a  still  greater  disaster  the 
following  year  at  Cannae.  In  215,  however, 
Mt2^^  Marcellus  defeated  Hannibal  at  Nola  and 
forced  him  to  assume  the  defensive  in  Apulia, 
awaiting  the  arrival  of  reinforcements  from 
Spain.] 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURUS 

(B.C.  207) 

E.  S.  CREASY 

CIPIO  at  Zama  trampled  in  the  dust  the 

power  of  Carthage,  but  that  power  had  this  bauie. 
been  already  irreparably  shattered  in 
another  field,  where  neither  Scipio  nor  Han- 
nibal commanded.  When  the  Metaurus  wit- 
nessed the  defeat  and  death  of  Hasdrubal,  it 
witnessed  the  ruin  of  the  scheme  by  which 
alone  Carthage  could  hope  to  organize  de- 
cisive success — the  scheme  of  enveloping 
Rome  at  once  from  the  north  and  the  south 
of  Italy  by  two  chosen  armies,  led  by  two 
sons  of  Hamilcar.  That  battle  was  the  de- 
termining crisis  of  the  contest,  not  merely 
between  Rome  and  Carthage,  but  between  the 
two  great  families  of  the  world,  which  then 
made  Italy  the  arena  of  their  oft-renewed  con- 
test for  pre-eminence. 

Carthage  was  originally  neither  the  most 
ancient  nor  the  most  powerful  of  the  numer- 
ous colonies  which  the  Phenicians  planted  on 
the  coast  of  Northern  Africa.  But  her  advan- 
tageous position,  the  excellence  of  her  consti- 

(359) 


360 


THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


Impor- 
tance of 
Carthage. 


tution  (of  which,  though  ill  informed  as  to  its 
details,  we  know  that  it  commanded  the  ad- 
miration of  Aristotle),  and  the  commercial 
and  political  energy  of  her  citizens,  gave  her 
the  ascendency  over  Hippo,  Utica,  Leptis, 
and  her  other  sister  Phenician  cities  in  those 
regions;  and  she  finally  reduced  them  to  a 
condition  of  dependency,  similar  to  that  which 
the  subject  allies  of  Athens  occupied  rela- 
tively to  that  once  imperial  city.  When  Tyre 
and  Sidon,  and  the  other  cities  of  Phenicia 
itself,  sank  from  independent  republics  into 
mere  vassal  states  of  the  great  Asiatic  mon- 
archies, and  obeyed  by  turns  a  Babylonian, 
a  Persian,  and  a  Macedonian  master,  their 
power  and  their  traffic  rapidly  declined,  and 
Carthage  succeeded  to  the  important  mari- 
time and  commercial  character  which  they 
had  previously  maintained.  The  Carthagin- 
ians did  not  seek  to  compete  with  the  Greeks, 
on  the  northeastern  shores  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, or  in  the  three  inland  seas  which 
are  connected  with  it;  but  they  maintained  an 
active  intercourse  with  the  Phenicians,  and 
through  them  with  Lower  and  Central  Asia; 
and  they,  and  they  alone,  after  the  decline 
and  fall  of  Tyre,  navigated  the  waters  of  the 
Carthage.  Atlantic.  They  had  the  monopoly  of  all  the 
commerce  of  the  world  that  was  carried  on 
beyond  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar. 

In  their  Atlantic  voyages  along  the  African 
shores,  the  Carthaginians  followed  the  double 


Trade  of 


B.C.  207 


THE    BATTLE    OF    THE    METAURUS  361 


colonies. 


object  of  traffic  and  colonization.  The  nu- 
merous settlements  that  were  planted  by  them 
along  the  coast  from  Morocco  to  Senegal  pro- 
vided for  the  needy  members  of  the  constantly  He 
increasing  population  of  a  great  commercial 
capital,  and  also  strengthened  the  influence 
which  Carthage  exercised  among  the  tribes 
of  the  African  coast.  Besides  her  fleets,  her 
caravans  gave  her  a  large  and  lucrative  trade  ^^jj^j^^j.^^ 
with  the  native  Africans;  nor  must  we  limit 
our  belief  of  the  extent  of  the  Carthaginian 
trade  with  the  tribes  of  Central  and  Western 
Africa  by  the  narrowness  of  the  commercial 
intercourse  which  civilized  nations  of  modern 
times  have  been  able  to  create  in  those  regions. 

Although  essentially  a  mercantile  and  sea- 
faring people,  the  Carthaginians  by  no  means 
neglected  agriculture.  On  the  contrary,  the^^^.^.^,^ 
whole  of  their  territory  was  cultivated  like  a'"""^* 
garden.  The  fertility  of  the  soil  repaid  the 
skill  and  toil  bestowed  on  it;  and  every  in- 
vader, from  Agathocles  to  Scipio  Emilianus, 
was  struck  with  admiration  at  the  rich  pasture 
lands  carefully  irrigated,  the  abundant  har- 
vests, the  luxuriant  vineyards,  the  plantations 
of  fig  and  olive  trees,  the  thriving  villages,  the 
populous  towns,  and  the  splendid  villas  of 
the  wealthy  Carthaginians,  through  which  his 
march  lay,  as  long  as  he  was  on  Carthaginian 
ground. 

Although  the  Carthaginians  abandoned  the 
Egean  and  the  Pontus  to  the  Greek,  they  were 

18  VoJ.  1 


5i>2  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  a.c.  ao; 

by  no  means  disposed  to  relinquish  to  those 

rivals  the  commerce  and  the  dominion  of  the 

coasts  of  the  Mediterranean  westward  of  Italy. 

,,   _,       For    centuries    the    Carthaginians    strove    to 

Islands  ^ 

Qmi^aVe°  make  themselves  masters  of  the  islands  that 
lie  between  Italy  and  Spain.  They  acquired 
the  Balearic  Islands,  where  the  principal 
harbor,  Port  Mahon,  still  bears  the  name  of 
a  Carthaginian  admiral.  They  succeeded  in 
reducing  the  greater  part  of  Sardinia;  but 
Sicily  could  never  be  brought  into  their 
power.  They  repeatedly  invaded  that  island, 
and  nearly  overran  it:  but  the  resistance  which 
was  opposed  to  them  by  the  Syracusans  un- 
der Gelon,  Dionysius,  Timoleon,  and  Agath- 
ocles,  preserved  the  island  from  becoming 
Punic,  though  many  of  its  cities  remained 
under  the  Carthaginian  rule  until  Rome 
finally  settled  the  question  to  whom  Sicily 
was  to  belong  by  conquering  it  for  herself. 

With  respect  to  the  composition  of  their 
armies,  it  is  observable  that,  though  thirsting 
for  extended  empire,  and  though  some  of  her 
leading  men  became  generals  of  the  highest 
The  Car-  ordcr,  the  Carthaginians,  as  a  people,  were 
notwaruke.  anything  but  personally  warlike.  As  long  as 
they  could  hire  mercenaries  to  fight  for  them, 
they  had  little  appetite  for  the  irksome  train- 
ing and  the  loss  of  valuable  time  which  mili- 
tary service  would  have  entailed  on  them- 
selves. 

As  Michelet  remarks,  "The  life  of  an  in- 


..C.207  THE    BATTLE    OF    THE    METAURUS  363 

dustrlous  merchant,  of  a  Carthaginian,  was 
too  precious  to  be  risked,  as  long  as  it  was 
possible  to  substitute  advantageously  for  it 
that  of  a  barbarian  from  Spain  or  Gaul.  Car-wara 
thage  knew,  and  could  tell  to  a  drachma,  what  "^"'^' 
the  life  of  a  man  of  each  nation  came  to.  A 
Greek  was  worth  more  than  a  Campanian,  a 
Campanian  worth  more  than  a  Gaul  or  a 
Spaniard.  When  once  this  tariff  of  blood  was 
correctly  made  out,  Carthage  began  a  war 
as  a  mercantile  speculation.  She  tried  to 
make  conquests  in  the  hope  of  getting  new 
mines  to  work,  or  to  open  fresh  markets  for 
her  exports.  In  one  venture  she  could  afford 
to  spend  fifty  thousand  mercenaries,  in  an- 
other rather  more.  If  the  returns  were  good, 
there  was  no  regret  felt  for  the  capital  that 
had  been  sunk  in  the  investment;  more  money 
got  more  men,  and  all  went  on  well." 

And  this  shows,  also,  the  transcendency  of  Genius  of 

'  '  ^  Hannibal, 

the  genius  of  Hannibal,  which  could  form 
such  discordant  materials  into  a  compact  or- 
ganized force,  and  inspire  them  with  the  spirit 
of  patient  discipline  and  loyalty  to  their  chief, 
so  that  they  were  true  to  him  in  his  adverse 
as  well  as  his  prosperous  fortunes;  and 
throughout  the  checkered  series  of  his  cam- 
paigns, no  panic  rout  ever  disgraced  a  di- 
vision under  his  command,  no  mutiny,  or  even 
attempt  at  mutiny,  was  ever  known  in  his 
camp;  and  finally,  after  fifteen  years  of  Italian 
warfare,  his  men  followed  their  old  leader  to 


364  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.   207 


Zama,  "with  no  fear  and  little  hope,"  and 
there,  on  that  disastrous  field,  stood  firm 
around  him,  his  Old  Guard,  till  Scipio's  Nu- 
midian  allies  came  up  on  their  flank,  when  at 
last,  surrounded  and  overpowered,  the  veteran 
battalions  sealed  their  devotion  to  their  gen- 
eral by  their  blood! 

It  was  in  the  spring  of  B.C.  207  that  Has- 
balsex-  drubal,  after  skilfully  disentangling  himself 
from  the  Roman  forces  m  Spam,  and  after  a 
march  concluded  with  great  judgment  and  lit- 
tle loss  through  the  interior  of  Gaul  and  the 
passes  of  the  Alps,  appeared  in  the  country 
that  now  is  the  north  of  Lombardy  at  the 
head  of  troops  which  he  had  partly  brought 
out  of  Spain  and  partly  levied  among  the 
Gauls  and  Ligurians  on  his  way.  At  this 
time  Hannibal,  with  his  unconquered  and 
seemingly  unconquerable  army,  had  been 
eight  years  in  Italy  executing  with  strenuous 
ferocity  the  vow  of  hatred  to  Rome  which  had 
been  sworn  by  him  while  yet  a  child  at  the 
bidding  of  his  father,  Hamilcar;  who,  as  he 
boasted,  had  trained  up  his  three  sons,  Hanni- 
bal, Hasdrubal,  and  Mago,  like  three  lion's 
whelps,  to  prey  upon  the  Romans.  But  Han- 
nibal's latter  campaigns  had  not  been  signal- 
ized by  any  such  great  victories  as  marked  the 
first  years  of  his  invasion  of  Italy.  The  stern 
spirit  of  Roman  resolution,  ever  highest  in  dis- 
aster and  danger,  had  neither  bent  nor  de- 
spaired beneath  the  merciless  blowswhich  "the 


B.C.  207 


THE    BATTLE    OF    THE    METAURUS  365 


dire  African"  dealt  her  in  rapid  succession  at 
Trebia,  at  Thrasymene,  and  at  Cannae.  Her 
population  was  thinned  by  repeated  slaughter 
in  the  field,  poverty  and  actual  scarcity  ground 
down  the  survivors,  through  the  fearful  rav- 
ages which  Hannibal's  cavalry  spread  through 
their  cornfields,  their  pasture-lands,  and  their 
vineyards;  many  of  her  allies  went  over  to  the 
invader's  side;  and  new  clouds  of  foreign  war 
threatened  her  from  Macedonia  and  Gaul. 
But  Rome  receded  not.  Rich  and  poor  among 
her  citizens  vied  with  each  other  in  devotion  ?°'°f".. 

fortitude. 

to  their  country.  The  wealthy  placed  their 
stores,  and  all  placed  their  lives,  at  the  state's 
disposal.  And  though  Hannibal  could  not  be 
driven  out  of  Italy,  though  every  year  brought 
its  sufferings  and  sacrifices,  Rome  felt  that  her 
constancy  had  not  been  exerted  in  vain.  If 
she  was  weakened  by  the  continual  strife,  so 
was  Hannibal  also;  and  it  was  clear  that  the 
unaided  resources  of  his  army  were  unequal 
to  the  task  of  her  destruction. 

Hasdrubal  had  commanded  the  Carthagin- 
ian armies  in  Spain  for  some  time  with  vary- 
ing but  generally  unfavorable  fortune.  He 
had  not  the  full  authority  over  the  Punic 
forces  in  that  country  which  his  brother  and 
his  father  had  previously  exercised.  The  fac- 
tion at  Carthage  which  was  at  feud  with  his 
family,  succeeded  in  fettering  and  interfering 
with  his  power,  and  other  generals  were  from 
time  to  time  sent  into  Spain,  whose  errors  and 


Hasdru- 

bal's 

tioubles. 


866  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  J07 

misconduct  caused  the  reverses  that  Hasdru- 
bal  met  with. 

It  is  clear  that,  in  the  year  B.C.  208,  at  least, 
Hasdrubal  outmanoeuvred  Publius  Scipio, 
who  held  the  command  of  the  Roman  forces 
in  Spain,  and  whose  object  was  to  prevent  him 
from  passing  the  Pyrenees  and  marching  upon 
Italy.  Scipio  expected  that  Hasdrubal  would 
attempt  the  nearest  route  along  the  coast  of  the 
Mediterranean,  and  he  therefore  carefully 
fortified  and  guarded  the  passes  of  the  eastern 
Pyrenees.  But  Hasdrubal  passed  these  moun- 
tains near  their  western  extremity;  and  then, 
with  a  considerable  force  of  Spanish  infan- 
try, with  a  small  number  of  African  troops, 
with  some  elephants  and  much  treasure,  he 
marched,  not  directly  toward  the  coast  of  the 
Mediterranean,  but  in  a  northeastern  line  to- 
ward the  centre  of  Gaul.  He  halted  for  the 
winter  in  the  territory  of  the  Arverni,  the  mod- 
ern Auvergne,  and  conciliated  or  purchased 
the  good  will  of  the  Gauls  in  that  region  so 
far  that  he  not  only  found  friendly  winter 
quarters  among  them,  but  great  numbers  of 
them  enlisted  under  him;  and  on  the  approach 
of  spring,  marched  with  him  to  invade  Italy. 

By  thus  entering  Gaul  at  the  southwest,  and 
avoiding  its  southern  maritime  districts,  Has- 
drubal kept  the  Romans  in  complete  igno- 
rance of  his  precise  operations  and  movements 
in  that  country;  all  that  they  knew  was  that 
Hasdrubal  had  bafiled  Scipio's  attempt  to  de- 


Hasdrubal 
crosses  the 
Pyrenees. 


iaiC.  207 


THE    BATTLE    OF    THE    METAURUS  367 


tain  him  in  Spain;  that  he  had  crossed  the 
Pyrenees  with  soldiers,  elephants  and  money, 
and  that  he  was  raising  fresh  forces  among  the 
Gauls.  The  spring  was  sure  to  bring  him  into 
Italy,  and  then  would  come  the  real  tempest 
of  the  war,  when  from  the  north  and  from  the 
south  the  two  Carthaginian  armies,  each  un- 
der a  son  of  the  Thunderbolt,  were  to  gather 
together  around  the  seven  hills  of  Rome. 

In  this  emergency  the  Romans  looked 
among  themselves  earnestly  and  anxiously  for 
leaders  fit  to  meet  the  perils  of  the  coming 
campaign. 

The   Senate    recommended   the    people   to 

The 

elect,  as  one  of  their  consuls,  Caius  Claudius Ro'nfns 

'  '  select  a 

Nero,  a  patrician  of  one  of  the  families  of  the*^"*^*"- 
great  Claudian  house.  Nero  had  served  dur- 
ing the  preceding  years  of  the  war  both  against 
Hannibal  in  Italy  and  against  Hasdrubal  in 
Spain;  but  it  is  remarkable  that  the  histories 
which  we  possess  record  no  successes  as  hav- 
ing been  achieved  by  him  either  before  or 
after  his  great  campaign  of  the  Metaurus.  It 
proves  much  for  the  sagacity  of  the  leading 
men  of  the  Senate  that  they  recognized  in 
Nero  the  energy  and  spirit  which  were  re- 
quired at  this  crisis,  and  it  is  equally  creditable 
to  the  patriotism  of  the  people  that  they  fol- 
lowed the  advice  of  the  Senate  by  electing  a 
general  who  had  no  showy  exploits  to  recom- 
mend him  to  their  choice. 

As  soon  as  the  winter  snows  were  thawed, 


•68  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  ,.c.  .07 

Hasdrubal  commenced  his  march  from  Au- 
vergne  to  the  Alps.  He  experienced  none  of 
the  difficulties  which  his  brother  had  met  with 
from  the  mountain  tribes.  Hannibal's  army 
had  been  the  first  body  of  regular  troops  that 
had  ever  traversed  their  region;  and,  as  wild 
animals  assail  a  traveller,  the  natives  rose 
against  it  instinctively,  in  imagined  defence 
of  their  own  habitations  which  they  supposed 
to  be  the  objects  of  Carthaginian  ambition. 
But  the  fame  of  the  war,  with  which  Italy  had 
now  been  convulsed  for  twelve  years,  had  pen- 
etrated into  the  Alpine  passes,  and  the  moun- 
taineers now  understood  that  a  mighty  city 
southward  of  the  Alps  was  to  be  attacked  by 
the  troops  whom  they  saw  marching  among 
them.  They  now  not  only  opposed  no  resis- 
tance to  the  passage  of  Hasdrubal,  but  many 
of  them,  out  of  the  love  of  enterprise  and 
plunder,  or  allured  by  the  high  pay  that  he 
offered,  took  service  with  him;  and  thus  he 
advanced  upon  Italy  with  an  army  that  gath- 
ered strength  at  every  league.  It  is  said,  also, 
that  some  of  the  most  important  engineering 
works  which  Hannibal  had  constructed  were 
found  by  Hasdrubal  still  in  existence,  and  ma- 
terially favored  the  speed  of  his  advance.  He 
thus  emerged  into  Italy  from  the  Alpine  val- 
leys much  sooner  than  had  been  anticipated. 
Many  warriors  of  the  Ligurian  tribes  joined 
him;  and,  crossing  the  river  Po,  he  marched 
down  its  southern  bank  to  the  city  of  Pla- 


Hasdrubal 

enters 

luly. 


B.C.  207 


THE    BATTLE    OF    THE    METAURUS  369 


centia,  which  he  wished  to  secure  as  a  base  for 
his  future  operations.  Placentia  resisted  him 
as  bravely  as  it  had  resisted  Hannibal  twelve 
years  before,  and  for  some  time  Hasdrubal 
was  occupied  with  a  fruitless  siege  before  its 
walls. 

Six  armies  were  levied  for  the  defence  of 
Italy  when  the  long  dreaded  approach  of 
Hasdrubal  was  announced.  Seventy  thou- 
sand Romans  served  in  the  fifteen  legions,  of 
which,  with  an  equal  number  of  Italian  allies, 
those  armies  and  garrisons  were  composed. 
Upward  of  thirty  thousand  more  Romans  were 
serving  in  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  Spain.  The 
whole  number  of  Roman  citizens  of  an  age  fitEemof 

o  Rome. 

for  military  duty  scarcely  exceeded  a  hundred 
and  thirty  thousand.  The  census  taken  before 
the  commencement  of  the  war  had  shown  a 
total  of  two  hundred  and  seventy  thousand, 
which  had  been  diminished  by  more  than  half 
during  tvVelve  years.  These  numbers  are  fear-  - 
fully  emphatic  of  the  extremity  to  which 
Rome  was  reduced,  and  of  her  gigantic  efforts 
in  that  great  agony  of  her  fate.  Not  merely 
men,  but  money  and  military  stores,  were 
drained  to  the  utmost;  and  if  the  armies  of 
that  year  should  be  swept  off  by  a  repetition 
of  the  slaughters  of  Thrasymene  and  Cannae, 
all  felt  that  Rome  would  cease  to  exist.  Even 
if  the  campaign  were  to  be  marked  by  no  de- 
cisive success  on  either  side,  her  ruin  seemed 
certain.     In  South  Italy,  Hannibal  had  either 


870  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  207 


detached  Rome's  allies  from  her,  or  had  im- 
poverished them  by  the  ravages  of  his  army. 
If  Hasdrubal  could  have  done  the  same  in 
Upper  Italy;  if  Etruria,  Umbria,  and  North- 
ern Latium  had  either  revolted  or  been  laid 
waste,  Rome  must  have  sunk  beneath  sheer 
starvation,  for  the  hostile  or  desolated  terri- 
tory would  have  yielded  no  supplies  of  corn 
for  her  population,  and  money  to  purchase  it 
from  abroad  there  was  none.  Instant  victory 
was  a  matter  of  life  or  death.  Three  of  her 
Disposition  six  armies  were  ordered  to  the  north,  but  the 

of  the  ' 

forces.  f^pgf  Qj  these  was  required  to  overawe  the  dis- 
affected Etruscans.  The  second  army  of  the 
north  was  pushed  forward,  under  Porcius,  the 
pretor,  to  meet  and  keep  in  check  the  ad- 
vanced troops  of  Hasdrubal;  while  the  third, 
the  grand  army  of  the  north,  which  was  to  be 
under  the  immediate  command  of  the  consul 
Livius,  who  had  the  chief  command  in  all 
-  North  Italy,  advanced  more  slowly  in  its  sup- 
port. There  were  similarly  three  armies  in 
the  south,  under  the  orders  of  the  other  consul, 
Claudius  Nero. 

Hannibal  at  this  period  occupied  with  his 
veteran  but  much  reduced  forces  the  extreme 
south  of  Italy.  It  had  not  been  expected 
either  by  friend  or  foe  that  Hasdrubal  would 
effect  his  passage  of  the  Alps  so  early  in  the 
year  as  actually  occurred.  And  even  when 
Hannibal  learned  that  his  brother  was  in  Italy, 
and  had  advanced  as  far  as  Placentia,  he  was 


B.C.  207 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURUS       371 


obliged  to  pause  for  further  intelligence  be- 
fore he  himself  commenced  active  operations, 
as  he  could  not  tell  whether  his  brother  might 
not  be  invited  into  Etruria,  to  aid  the  party 
there  that  was  disaffected  to  Rome,  or  whether 
he  would  march  down  by  the  Adriatic  Sea. 
Hannibal  led  his  troops  out  of  their  winter 
quarters  in  Bruttium  and  marched  northward 
as  far  as  Canusium.  In  the  hope,  probably,  Hasdru- 
of  inducing  Nero  to  follow  him,  and  of  gain- me'n'ts!"°'^' 
ing  an  opportunity  of  outmanoeuvring  the  Ro- 
man consul  and  attacking  him  on  his  march, 
Hannibal  moved  into  Lucania,  and  then  back 
into  Apulia;  he  again  marched  down  into 
Bruttium,  and  strengthened  his  army  by  a  levy 
of  recruits  in  that  district.  Nero  followed 
him,  but  gave  him  no  chance  of  assaulting  him 
at  a  disadvantage.  Some  partial  encounters 
seem  to  have  taken  place;  but  the  consul  could 
not  prevent  Hannibal's  junction  with  his  Brut- 
tian  levies,  nor  could  Hannibal  gain  an  oppor- 
tunity of  surprising  and  crushing  the  consul. 
Hannibal  returned  to  his  former  headquarters 
at  Canusium,  and  halted  there  in  expectation 
of  further  tidings  of  his  brother's  movements. 
Nero  also  resumed  his  former  position  in  ob- 
servation of  the  Carthaginian  army. 

Meanwhile,  Hasdrubal  had  raised  the  siege 
of  Placentia,  and  was  advancing  toward  Ari- 
minum  on  the  Adriatic,  and  driving  before 
him  the  Roman  army  under  Porcius.  Nor 
when  the  consul  Livius  had  come  up,   and 


872  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  207 


united  the  second  and  third  armies  of  the 
north,  could  he  make  head  against  the  in- 
vaders. The  Romans  still  fell  back  before 
Hasdrubal,  beyond  Ariminum,  beyond  the 
Metaurus,  and  as  far  as  the  little  town  of  Sena, 
to  the  southeast  of  that  river.  Hasdrubal  was 
not  unmindful  of  the  necessity  of  acting  in 
concert  with  his  brother.  He  sent  messengers 
to  Hannibal  to  announce  his  own  line  of 
march,  and  to  propose  that  they  should  unite 
their  armies  in  South  Umbria,  and  then  wheel 
round  against  Rome.  Those  messengers  trav- 
ersed the  greater  part  of  Italy  in  safety,  but, 
when  close  to  the  object  of  their  mission,  were 
mans  learn  capturcd  bv  3  Roman  detachment,  and  Has- 

of  Hasdru-  ^  j  j 

bais plans.  (Jrubal's  IcttcT,  detailing  his  whole  plan  of  the 
campaign,  was  laid,  not  in  his  brother's  hands, 
but  in  those  of  the  commander  of  the  Roman 
armies  of  the  south.  Nero  saw  at  once  the 
full  importance  of  the  crisis.  The  two  sons 
of  Hamilcar  were  now  within  two  hundred 
miles  of  each  other,  and  if  Rome  were  to  be 
saved,  the  brothers  must  never  meet  alive. 
Nero  instantly  ordered  seven  thousand  picked 
men,  a  thousand  being  cavalry,  to  hold  them- 
selves in  readiness  for  a  secret  expedition 
against  one  of  Hannibal's  garrisons,  and  as 
soon  as  night  had  set  in,  he  hurried  forward 
on  his  bold  enterprise;  but  he  quickly  left  the 
southern  road  toward  Lucania,  and,  wheeling 
round,  pressing  northward  with  the  utmost 
rapidity  toward  Picenum.     He  had,  during 


B.C.  207 


THE    BATTLE    OF    THE    METAURUS  378 


the  preceding  afternoon,  sent  messengers  to 
Rome,  who  were  to  lay  Hasdrubal's  letter 
before  the  Senate.  There  was  a  law  forbid- 
ding a  consul  to  make  war  or  march  his  army 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  province  assigned  to 
him;  but  in  such  an  emergency  Nero  did  not j^^^^.^ ^^j^ 
wait  for  the  permission  of  the  Senate  to  exe-^"'°"' 
cute  his  project,  but  informed  them  that  he 
was  already  on  his  march  to  join  Livius  against 
Hasdrubal.  He  advised  them  to  send  the  two 
legions  which  formed  the  home  garrison  on  to 
Narnia,  so  as  to  defend  that  pass  of  the  Fla- 
minian  road  against  Hasdrubal,  in  case  he 
should  march  upon  Rome  before  the  consular 
armies  could  attack  him.  They  were  to  sup- 
ply the  place  of  these  two  legions  at  Rome  by 
a  levy  en  masse  in  the  city  and  by  ordering  up 
the  reserve  legion  from  Capua.  These  were 
his  communications  to  the  Senate.  He  also 
sent  horsemen  forward  along  his  line  of  march,  careof  the 
with  orders  to  the  local  authorities  to  bring '° 
stores  of  provisions  and  refreshments  of  every 
kind  to  the  roadside,  and  to  have  relays  of  car- 
riages ready  for  the  conveyance  of  the  wearied 
soldiers. 

Fortunately  for  Rome,  while  she  was  a  prey 
to  terror  and  anxiety,  her  consul's  nerves  were 
stout  and  strong,  and  he  resolutely  urged  on 
his  march  toward  Sena,  where  his  colleague 
Livius  and  the  pretor  Porcius  were  encamped, 
Hasdrubal's  army  being  in  position  about  half 
a  mile  to  their  north.    Nero  had  sent  couriers 


374  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS 


I.e.  207 


colleague. 


forward  to  apprise  his  colleague  of  his  project 
and  of  his  approach;  and  by  the  advice  of 
Livius,  Nero  so  timed  his  final  march  as  to 
jli^shis  reach  the  camp  at  Sena  by  night.  According 
to  a  previous  arrangement,  Nero's  men  were 
received  silently  into  the  tents  of  their  com- 
rades, each  according  to  his  rank.  By  these 
means  there  was  no  enlargement  of  the  camp 
that  could  betray  to  Hasdrubal  the  accession 
of  force  which  the  Romans  had  received. 
This  was  considerable,  as  Nero's  numbers  had 
been  increased  on  the  march  by  the  volun- 
teers, who  offered  themselves  in  crowds,  and 
from  whom  he  selected  the  most  promising 
men,  and  especially  the  veterans  of  former 
campaigns.  A  council  of  war  was  held  on  the 
morning  after  his  arrival,  in  which  some  ad- 
vised that  time  should  be  given  for  Nero's 
men  to  refresh  themselves  after  the  fatigue 
of  such  a  march.  But  he  vehemently  op- 
posed all  delay.  Nero's  advice  prevailed.  It 
was  resolved  to  fight  directly,  and  before  the 
consul  and  pretor  left  the  tent  of  Livius,  the 
red  ensign,  which  was  the  signal  to  prepare 
for  immediate  action,  was  hoisted,  and  the 
Romans  forthwith  drew  up  in  battle  array 
outside  the  camp. 

Hasdrubal  had  been  anxious  to  bring 
Livius  and  Porcius  to  battle,  though  he  had 
not  judged  it  expedient  to  attack  them  in  their 
lines.  And  now,  on  hearing  that  the  Romans 
offered  battle,  he  also  drew  up  his  men  and 


B.C.  207 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURUS       375 


advanced  toward  them.  No  spy  or  deserter 
had  informed  him  of  Nero's  arrival,  nor  had 
he  received  any  direct  information  that  he  had 
more  than  his  old  enemies  to  deal  with.  But 
as  he  rode  forward  to  reconnoitre  the  Roman 
line,  he  thought  that  their  numbers  seemed  to^^sdru- 

'  o  bars  sus- 

have  increased,  and  that  the  armor  of  some  ^rous"ed. 
of  them  was  unusually  dull  and  stained.  He 
noticed,  also,  that  the  horses  of  some  of  the 
cavalry  appeared  to  be  rough  and  out  of  con- 
dition, as  if  they  had  just  come  from  a  suc- 
cession of  forced  marches.  So  also,  though, 
owing  to  the  precaution  of  Livius,  the  Roman 
camp  showed  no  change  of  size,  it  had  not  es- 
caped the  quick  ear  of  the  Carthaginian  gen- 
eral that  the  trumpet  which  gave  the  signal 
to  the  Roman  legions  sounded  that  morning 
once  oftener  than  usual,  as  if  directing  the 
troops  of  some  additional  superior  officer. 
Hasdrubal,  from  his  Spanish  campaigns,  was 
well  acquainted  with  all  the  sounds  and  sig- 
nals of  Roman  war,  and  from  all  that  he  heard 
and  saw  he  felt  convinced  that  both  the  Ro- 
man consuls  were  before  him.  In  doubt  and 
difficulty  as  to  what  might  have  taken  place 
between  the  armies  of  the  south,  and  prob- 
ably hoping  that  Hannibal  was  also  approach- 
ing, Hasdrubal  determined  to  avoid  an  en- 
counter with  the  combined  Roman  forces,  and 
to  endeavor  to  retreat  upon  Insubrian  Gaul, 
where  he  would  be  in  a  friendly  country,  and 
could  endeavor  to  reopen  his  communication 


37*3  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  ioy 


Hasdrub.il 
retreats. 


Is  betrayed. 


with  his  brother.    He  therefore  led  his  troops 
back  into  their  camp;  and  as  the  Romans  did 
not  venture  on  an  assault  upon  his  intrench- 
ments,  and  Hasdrubal  did  not  choose  to  com- 
mence his  retreat  in  their  sight,  the  day  passed 
away  in  inaction.     At  the  first  watch  of  the 
night,  Hasdrubal  led  his  men  silently  out  of 
their  camp,  and  moved  northward  toward  the 
Metaurus,  in  the  hope  of  placing  that  river 
between  himself  and  the  Romans  before  his 
retreat  was  discovered.     His  guides  betrayed 
him;   and   having   purposely   led   him   away 
from  the  part  of  the  river  that  was  fordable, 
they  made  their  escape  in  the  dark,  and  left 
Hasdrubal  and  his  army  wandering  in  confu- 
sion along  the  steep  bank,  and  seeking  in  vain 
for  a  spot  where  the  stream  could  be  safely 
crossed.     At  last  they  halted;  and  when  day 
dawned   upon   them,   Hasdrubal   found   that 
great  numbers  of  his  men,  in  their  fatigue  and 
impatience,  had  lost  all  discipline  and  subor- 
dination, and  that  many  of  his  Gallic  auxili- 
aries had  got  drunk,  and  were  lying  helpless 
in  their  quarters.    The  Roman  cavalry  were 
soon  seen  coming  up  in  pursuit,  followed  at  no 
great  distance  by  the  legions,  which  marched 
in  readiness  for  an  instant  engagement.    It  was 
hopeless  for  Hasdrubal  to  think  of  continuing 
Prepares    his  retrcat  before  them.    The  prospect  of  im- 
for    ttie.^,  mediate   battle   might   recall   the   disordered 
part  of  his  troops  to  a  sense  of  duty,  and  revive 
the  instinct  of  discipline.     He  therefore  or- 


i,.c.207   "   THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  METAURUS       877 

dered  his  men  to  prepare  for  action  instantly, 
and  made  the  best  arrangement  of  them  that 
the  nature  of  the  ground  would  permit. 

His  veteran  Spanish  infantry,  armed  with  Hasdrubai 
helmets  and  shields,  and  short  cut- and-th rust  for  taufe. 
swords,  were  the  best  part  of  his  army.  These, 
and  his  few  Africans,  he  drew  up  on  his  right 
wing,  under  his  own  personal  command.  In 
the  centre  he  placed  his  Ligurian  infantry, 
and  on  the  left  wing  he  placed  or  retained  the 
Gauls,  who  were  armed  with  long  javelins  and 
with  huge  broadswords  and  targets.  The 
rugged  nature  of  the  ground  in  front  and  on 
the  flank  of  this  part  of  his  line  made  him 
hope  that  the  Roman  right  wing  would  be 
unable  to  come  to  close  quarters  with  these  un- 
serviceable barbarians  before  he  could  make 
some  impression  with  his  Spanish  veterans  on 
the  Roman  left.  This  was  the  only  chance 
that  he  had  of  victory  or  safety,  and  he  seems 
to  have  done  everything  that  good  general- 
ship could  do  to  secure  it.  He  placed  his  ele- 
phants in  advance  of  his  centre  and  right 
wing.  He  had  caused  the  driver  of  each  of 
them  to  be  provided  with  a  sharp  iron  spike 
and  a  mallet,  and  had  given  orders  that  every 
beast  that  became  unmanageable,  and  ran 
back  upon  his  own  ranks,  should  be  instantly 
killed,  by  driving  the  spike  into  the  vertebra 
at  the  junction  of  the  head  and  the  spine. 
Hasdrubal's  elephants  were  ten  in  number. 
We  have  no  trustworthy  information  as  to  the 


of  ihe 


378  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  107 

amount  of  his  infantry,  but  it  is  quite  clear 
that  he  was  greatly  outnumbered  by  the  com- 
bined Roman  forces. 

Nero  commanded  the  right  wing,  Livius 
Importance  thc  Icft,  and  thc  oretor  Porcius  had  the 
command  of  the  centre.  "Both  Romans  and 
Carthaginians  well  understood  how  much  de- 
pended upon  the  fortune  of  this  day,  and  how 
little  hope  of  safety  there  was  for  the  van- 
quished. Only  the  Romans  herein  seemed  to 
have  had  the  better  in  conceit  and  opinion 
that  they  were  to  fight  with  men  desirous  to 
have  fled  from  them;  and  according  to  this 
presumption  came  Livius  the  consul,  with  a 
proud  bravery,  to  give  charge  on  the  Span- 
iards and  Africans,  by  whom  he  was  so 
sharply  entertained  that  the  victory  seemed 
very  doubtful.  The  Africans  and  Spaniards 
were  stout  soldiers,  and  well  acquainted  with 
the  manner  of  the  Roman  fight.  The  Ligu- 
rians,  also,  were  a  hardy  nation,  and  not  ac- 
customed to  give  ground,  which  they  needed 
the  less,  or  were  able  now  to  do,  being 
placed  in  the  midst.  Livius,  therefore,  and 
Porcius  found  great  opposition;  and  with 
great  slaughter  on  both  sides  prevailed  little 
or  nothing.  Besides  other  difficulties,  they 
were  exceedingly  troubled  by  the  elephants, 
that  brake  their  first  ranks,  and  put  them  in 
such  disorder  as  the  Roman  ensigns  were 
driven  to  fall  back;  all  this  while  Claudius 
Nero,  laboring  in  vain  against  a  steep  hill. 


The  battle. 


B.C.  207  THE    BATTLE    OF    THE    METAURUS  379 

was  unable  to  come  to  blows  with  the  Gauls 
that  stood  opposite  him,  but  out  of  danger. 
This  made  Hasdrubal  the  more  confident, 
who,  seeing  his  own  left  wing  safe,  did  the 
more,  boldly  and  fiercely  make  impression  on 
the  other  side  upon  the  left  side  of  the  Ro- 
mans." * 

But  at  last  Nero,  who  found  that  Hasdrubal 
refused  his  left  wing,  and  who  could  not  over- 
come the  difficulties  of  the  ground  in  the 
quarter  assigned  to  him,  decided  the  battle  by 
another  stroke  of  that  military  genius  which 
had  inspired  his  march.  Wheeling  a  brigade 
of  his  best  men  round  the  rear  of  the  rest  of 
the  Roman  army,  Nero  fiercely  charged  thej^^ides 
flank  of  the  Spaniards  and  Africans.  The ""^ *'*''■ 
charge  was  as  successful  as  it  was  sudden. 
Rolled  back  in  disorder  upon  each  other,  and 
overwhelmed  by  numbers,  the  Spaniards  and 
Ligurians  died,  fighting  gallantly  to  the  last. 
The  Gauls,  who  had  taken  little  or  no  part  in 
the  strife  of  the  day,  were  then  surrounded, 
and  butchered  almost  without  resistance. 
Hasdrubal,  after  having,  by  the  confession 
of  his  enemies,  done  all  that  a  general  could 
do,  when  he  saw  that  the  victory  was  irrepa- 
rably lost,  scorning  to  survive  the  gallant  hostj^^^^^^. 
which  he  had  led,  and  to  gratify,  as  a  captive,  del'h.''"''''' 
Roman  cruelty  and  pride,  spurred  his  horse 
into  the  midst  of  a  Roman  cohort,  and,  sword 

*  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  Hist  arte  of  the  World. 


380  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  207 

in  hand,  met  the  death  that  was  worthy  of  the 
son  of  Hamilcar  and  the  brother  of  Hannibal. 
Success   the   most   complete   had   crowned 
Nero's  enterprise.     Returning  as   rapidly  as 
he  had  advanced,  he  was  again  facing  the  in- 
active enemies  in  the  south  before  they  even 
Hannibal    kncw  of  his  march.     But  he  brought  with  him 
b?o'ihe?'s''^  a  ghastly  trophy  of  what  he  had  done.     In 
^  '       the  true  spirit  of  that  savage  brutality  which 
deformed  the  Roman  national  character,  Nero 
ordered   Hasdrubal's   head   to  be  flung  into 
his  brother's  camp.      Ten  years  had  passed 
since  Hannibal  had  gazed  on  those  features. 
The  sons  of  Hamilcar  had  then  planned  their 
system  of  warfare  against  Rome,  which  they 
had  so  nearly  brought  to  successful  accom- 
plishment.     Year   after  year  had   Hannibal 
been  struggling  in  Italy,  in  the  hope  of  one 
day  hailing  the  arrival  of  him  whom  he  had 
left  in  Spain,  and  of  seeing  his  brother's  eye 
flash  with  affection  and  pride  at  the  junction 
of  their  irresistible  hosts.     He  now  saw  that 
eye  glazed  in  death,  and  in  the  agony  of  his 
heart  the  great  Carthaginian  groaned  aloud 
that  he  recognized  his  country's  destiny. 
Meanwhile,  at  the  tidings  of  the  great  bat- 
Rome^^_,  tie,    Rome   at  once   rose   from   the   thrill   of 
anxiety    and    terror    to    the    full    confidence 
of  triumph.     Hannibal  might  retain  his  hold 
on   Southern   Italy  for  a   few  years  longer, 
but  the  imperial  city  and  her  allies  were  no 
longer  in  danger  from  his  arms;  and,  after 


triumphant 


B.C.  207  THE    BATTLE    OF    THE    METAURUS  381 

Hannibal's  downfall,  the  great  military  re- 
public of  the  ancient  world  met  in  her  career 
of  conquest  no  other  worthy  competitor.  By- 
ron has  termed  Nero's  march  "unequalled," 
and,  in  the  magnitude  of  its  consequences,  it 
is  so. 

[In  206,  Scipio  captured  Cadiz  (Gades) 
and  expelled  the  Carthaginians  from  Spain. 
The  First  Macedonian  War  was  concluded  inSaJ^w"! 
the  same  year,  the  Romans  having  formed  a 
league  of  Greek  States  against  the  King  of 
Macedon,  who  had  promised  to  help  Hanni- 
bal with  troops.  In  204,  Scipio  landed  in 
Africa.  In  203,  he  defeated  the  Carthaginians 
and  Hannibal  was  recalled  from  Italy.  The 
latter  was  decisively  defeated  at  Zama  in  202 ; 
and,  in  201,  peace  was  concluded  on  terms  ^^-  ^eco^d 
ceedingly  humiliating  to  Carthage.  The  Sec-  S^wtr. 
ond  Macedonian  War  began  in  200,  and  lasted 
three  years.  The  Romans  were  joined  in  199 
by  the  Etolians,  and  later  by  the  Acheans. 
Epirus  was  conquered  and  Philip  V.  was  de- 
feated at  Cynoscephalae,  the  Roman  Senate 
decreed  freedom  and  independence  for  the 
Greek  States. 

Antiochus  III.,  of  Syria,  had  interfered  in 
Greek  affairs  and  the  Romans  took  advantage 
of  the  pretext  to  make  war.  The  King  of 
Syria  landed  in  Thessaly,  but  was  totally  de- 
feated by  the  Romans,  who  afterward  crossed 
the  Hellespont  and  won  the  battle  of  Mag- 


382  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c  207 

nesia  in  190.  Rome  divided  the  conquered 
country  among  her  allies.  Constant  quarrels 
continued  among  the  Greek  States,  among 
whom  the  Roman  Senate  was  called  upon  to 
arbitrate.  In  183,  Ha-nnibal  died  from  poison. 
The  Macedonian  monarchy  was  finally  de- 
stroyed by  Rome  in  the  Third  Macedonian 
War  (171-168).  In  166,  war  broke  out  be- 
tween Syria  and  Egypt,  and  Rome  again  acted 
as  arbitrator.  The  Third  Punic  War  began 
in  149,  the  Romans  having  decided  finally  to 
destroy  Carthage.  Scipio  captured  and  de- 
stroyed the  city  in  146,  and  the  coast-line 
became  a  Roman*  province.] 


Third 
Macedo- 
nian war. 


THE     FALL    OF     CARTHAGE 

(B.C.  150-146) 

HENRY  GEORGE  LIDDELL 

BEFORE  Corinth  fell,  Carthage  also  had 
ceased  to  exist.  We  saw  Hannibal  re- 
form the  corrupt  administration  of  his 
native  city,  and  put  her  in  the  way  of  recover- 
ing even  from  the  heavy  blow  which  she  had 
suffered  after  the  defeat  of  Zama.  We  saw 
him  compelled  to  leave  Africa  at  the  instance 
of  the  Roman  Senate.  But  his  acts  lived  after 
him.  The  trade  of  Carthage  revived  rapidly,  Flourishing 
and  the  disturbed  condition  of  the  East  threw  ^^"''*^*'- 
a  large  commerce  into  the  hands  of  her  mer- 
chants. 

The  Senate  could  not  look  with  equanimity 
on  this  state  of  affairs;  and  Masinissa  was 
given  to  understand. that  he  would  not  be  pre- 
vented from  enriching  himself  at  the  expense 
of  his  neighbors.  The  unscrupulous  Numid- 
ian  did  not  require  a  second  hint.  He  over- 
ran and  plundered  the  most  fertile  provinces 
dependent  upon  Carthage;  and  the  Cartha- 
ginians, finding  the  Senate  deaf  to  all  com- 
plaints, at  last  prayed  to  be  allowed  to  plead 

(383) 


384  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  is<^.46 

their  cause  before  some  fair  tribunal,  or,  if 
not,  to  use  arms  in  self-defence.     "The  Car- 
thaginians," they  said,  "would  rather  be  the 
slaves  of  Rome  than  subject  to  the  depreda- 
tions of  Masinissa.     Better  die  at  once  than 
live  at  the  mercy  of  that  Numidian  robber!" 
Nevertheless,  they  were  again  put  off  with 
promises  and  delays, 
catode-         ^^  appears  that  at  this  time  parties  ran  high 
di«?ruc\ion  at   Carthage.      The   old   oligarchical    party, 
of  Carthage  ^j^.^j^  had  expcllcd  Hannibal,  was  disposed 
to  maintain  peace  at  any  price.      But  about 
the  year  B.C.  151,  the  popular  party  got  the 
upper  hand,  and  the  new  Government  resolved 
openly  to  oppose  the  encroachments  of  Masi- 
nissa.     It  was  at  this  time  that  Cato,   now 
eighty-four  years  of  age,  was  seized  by  a  sort 
of  fanatic  desire  for  the  destruction  of  Car- 
thage.    So   long   as   the   hateful   rival  flour- 
ished, he  contended  there  could  be  no  safety 
for  Rome.     Scipio  Nasica,  who  for  his  pru- 
dence and  sagacity  had  received  the  name  of 
Corculum,  opposed  this  opinion  with  all  his 
eloquence,  and  so  far  prevailed  that  before 
declaring   war    a    Commission    was    sent    to 
Africa,   headed  by  Cato   himself,  with  full 
powers  to  settle  all  disputes  between  Carthage 
and   Masinissa.      The   Commissioners  began 
by  requiring  that  both  parties  should  enter 
into  a  bond  to  submit  absolutely  to  their  de- 
cisions.    Masinissa  of  course  consented;  but 
the  Carthaginians  naturally  demurred  to  throw 


B.C.  I50-I46  THE    FALL    OF    CARTHAGE  385 

themselves  on  the  mercy  of  Cato,  and  the  Com- 
missioners returned  to  Rome.  Once  more 
Cato  rose  in  the  Senate,  and  gave  a  glowing 
description  of  the  power  and  wealth  of  Car- 
thage. 

Unfolding  his  gown,  he  produced  some 
giant  figs,  which  he  held  up,  and  said,  "These 
figs  grow  but  three  days'  sail  from  Rome. 
Every  speech,"  he  added,  "which  I  make  in 
this  house  shall  finish  with  the  words — 'my 
opinion  is,  that  Carthage  must  be  destroyed — 
delenda  est  Carthago!  "  From  that  day  the 
doom  of  C'arthage  was  fixed. 

An  opportunity  soon  offered  for  interfer- 

Rome's  op= 

ence  (B.C.  150).  The  banished  oligarchy portunity. 
sought  the  aid  of  Masinissa,  and  the  old  Chief 
promptly  led  a  large  army  into  the"  territory 
of  Carthage.  The  new  Government  had  lev- 
ied a  considerable  force,  which  they  put  un- 
der the  command  of  an  officer  named  Has- 
drubal.  It  was  not  long  before  a  battle  was 
fought,  in  which  the  Numidians  wDn  the  day. 
It  happened  that  young  Scipio  had  just  then 
been  sent  by  Lucullus  from  Spain  to  obtain  a 
supply  of  elephants  from  Masinissa;  and  he 
was  a  spectator  of  the  battle  from  a  neighbor- 
ing eminence — "a  sight,"  as  he  told  Polybius, 
"that  no  one  had  enjoyed  since  the  time  when 
Jupiter  looked  down  from  Ida  upon  the  battle 
of  the  Greeks  and  Trojans."  It  must  have  been 
a  remarkable  sight  to  behold  old  Masinissa, 
then  past  ninety  years  of  age,  charge  like  a 

JUT  Vol.  1 


386  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  .50-146 

boy  of  nineteen  at  the  head  of  his  wild  Nu- 
midian  horse. 

Masinissa  soon  reduced  the  army  of  the 
enemy  to  such  straits  that  the  Government  of 
Carthage  was  compelled  to  yield.  The  popu- 
lar party  was  once  more  deprived  of  power; 
and  the  wealthy  merchants,  who  now  recov- 
ered the  government,  prepared  to  make  sub- 
carthage    mission  to  the  Senate.     They  proclaimed  Has- 

submjt*.  -'    ^ 

drubal  and  the  leaders  of  the  war  party  guilty 
of  high  treason,  and  sent  envoys  to  Rome  with 
humble  apologies ;  but  they  were  too  late.  The 
Consuls-elect  for  the  year  B.C.  149,  L.  Censo- 
rinus  and  M.  Manilius,  began  to  hold  their 
levies  before  the  Carthaginian  envoys  arrived. 
The  latter  knew  not  well  how  to  act,  but  at 
length  resolved  to  place  Carthage  and  all  her 
possessions  at  the  absolute  disposal  of  the  Sen- 
ate. It  was  answered  that  they  had  done  well. 
The  Fathers  pledged  their  word  that  Carthage 
should  be  left  free,  if  300  of  the  noblest  youths 
were  sent  as  hostages  to  meet  the  Consuls  at 
Lilybeum;  from  them  the  Government  should 
learn  the  further  commands  of  the  Senate. 

The  Carthaginian  Government  complied 
with  the  demand,  not  without  secret  alarm  as 
to  what  these  ''further  commands"  might  be. 
A  heart-rendine:  scene  ensued  when  the  '?oo 

Hostages  '^  ^ 

are  given,  hostagcs  wcrc  tom  from  their  parents'  arms. 
At  Lilybeum  the  Consuls  received  those 
pledges  of  submission,  coldly  signifying  that 
they  should  land  their  army  in  Africa  within 


9X.ISO-H0  THE    FALL    OF    CARTHAGE  387 

a  few  days,  and  would  then  declare  the  will 
of  the  Senate.  Accordingly  the  poor  boys 
were  sent  to  Rome,  and  the  fleet  anchored  in 
the  harbor  of  Utica,  while  the  legions  took  up 
their  quarters  in  the  old  camp  of  Scipio  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Bagradas.  Here  another 
deputation  from  the  trembling  Government 
of  Carthage  appeared  before  the  Consuls,  who 
received  them  sitting  on  their  chairs  of  state, 
with  their  officers  around  them,  and  the  army 
drawn  out  in  order.  The  deputies  recapitu- 
lated the  acts  of  submission  which  Carthage 
had  made,  and  humbly  asked  what  more  could 
be  required.  Censorinus  replied  that,  "as  Car- 
thage was  now  under  the  protection  of  Rome, 
they  would  no  longer  have  occasion  to  engage 
in  war:  they  must  therefore  give  up  all  their 
arms  and  engines  without  reserve."    This  hard  canhage 

"  disarms. 

condition  also  was  accepted.  The  force  of 
the  city  may  be  in  some  measure  estimated 
from  the  fact  that  200,000  stand  of  arms  and 
2,000  catapults  were  delivered  up  to  Scipio 
Nasica,  who  conveyed  them  to  the  Roman 
camp,  followed  by  the  chiefs  of  the  Govern- 
ment, who  imagined  that  they  had  drained  the 
cup  of  humiliation  to  the  dregs.  They  were 
grievously  mistaken.  The  Consuls  thought 
that  the  city  was  now  wholly  disabled,  and 
they  let  drop  the  mask.  Censorinus  calmly 
informed  the  unhappy  men,  that  "so  long  as 
they  possessed  a  fortified  city  near  the  sea, 
Rome  could  not  feel  sure  of  their  submission: 


388  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  ..c.  150-146 

therefore  it  was  the  will  of  the  Senate  that 
they  must  remove  to  some  point  ten  miles  dis- 
tant from  the  coast:  Carthage  must  be  de- 
stroyed." On  hearing  their  final  doom,  the 
wretched  Carthaginians  fell  stupefied  to  the 
ground ;  and  when  they  found  utterance,  broke 
into  passionate  exclamations  against  the  per- 
jured Senate. 

Despair  gave  unnatural  courage.     The  tem- 

Desperate  r  o  o  ^ 

^\SIt  pl^s  and  public  buildings  were  converted  into 
resistance,  ^yorkshops ;  men  and  women  worked  day  and 
night  manufacturing  arms;  every  day  lOO 
shields  w^ere  turned  out,  300  swords,  500  pikes 
and  javelins,  1,000  catapult-bolts.  The  women 
cut  off  their  long  hair  to  be  twisted  into  strings 
for  the  new  catapults.  Corn  was  assiduously 
collected  from  every  quarter. 

The  Consuls,  who  were  men  of  the  Forum 
rather  than  the  Camp,  were  not  a  little  dis- 
appointed at  this  turn  of  affairs.  They  dal- 
lied for  a  time,  hoping  that  on  reflection  the 
Carthaginians  would  give  up  all  thoughts  of 
an  armed  defence.  The  conduct  of  Masinissa 
contributed  to  their  irresolution.  The  wily 
old  chief  had  no  mind  that,  after  Carthage  had 
been  weakened  by  his  arms,  Rome  should  come 
in  and  take  the  lion's  share.  At  first  the  Con- 
suls had  not  thought  it  necessary  to  ask  for  his 
co-operation:  it  is  plain  that  they  expected  to 
take  the  city  without  stroke  of  sword.  But 
now  the  case  was  altered,  and  when  they  ap- 
plied to  Masinissa,  he  hung  back. 


B.C.  iso-i+6  THE    FALL    OF    CARTHAGE  389 

When  it  became  clear  that  Carthage  must 
be  formally  besieged,  the  Consuls  still  no 
doubt  expected  an  easy  triumph;  but  the  de- 
fence that  followed  was  one  of  the  most  heroic 
that  the  world  has  seen. 

The  Consuls  divided  their  army;  Manilius 
assaulting  the  triple  wall  abutting  on  the  isth- 
mus, Censorinus  directing  his  attack  at  the  end 
of  the  pier,  where  the  city  wall  seemed  least 
strong.  But  all  their  assaults  were  gallantly  The 
repelled.  The  season  was  passing,  and  the  make"ifttie 
hot  weather  caused  the  army  to  suffer  greatly. 
Censorinus  returned  home  to  hold  the  Co- 
mitia;  and  the  army,  commanded  by  Manilius, 
was  only  saved  from  Hasdrubal's  assaults  by 
Scipio,  who  was  serving  under  the  Consul. 

The  Senate  began  to  repent  of  having  neg- 
lected Masinissa,  and  sent  ambassadors  to  beg 
for  his  assistance.  But  the  old  chief  was  dead 
before  they  arrived. 

Of  his  numerous  offspring  only  three  were 
legitimate.  On  his  death-bed  he  sent  for 
Scipio,  to  whom  he  was  attached  as  the  heir 
of  the  great  Af ricanus,  and  left  the  settlement 
of  the  succession  to  his  judgment.  Scipio  gave 
the  sceptre  to  Micipsa,  the  eldest  son;  Golossa, 
the  second,  was  to  be  general;  the  administra- 
tion of  justice  was  committed  to  the  youngest,  Masinissas 
Mastanarbal.  Golossa  joined  the  Romans  atloinsX"" 
the  head  of  a  body  of  troops;  and  thus  freed 
the  Consul  from  the  fear  of  seeing  the  Nu- 
midians  take  part  with  Carthage. 


390  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  ..t.  .50.46 

Before  the  winter  set  in,  Hamilcar  Phameas, 
commander  of  the  cavalry,  the  terror  of  the 
Pham^s  Roman  foraging  parties,  finding  that  the  Nu- 
10 Rome,  niidians  had  joined  Rome,  determined  to  make 
a  merit  of  timely  submission  to  Rome;  and 
Manilius  was  overjoyed  to  see  this  redoubted 
foe  ride  into  camp  in  company  with  Scipio, 
followed  by  a  squadron  of  African  horse.  Tid- 
ings now  came  that  L.  Calpurnis  Piso,  Consul 
for  the  next  year,  was  on  his  way  to  supersede 
him;  and  Manilius  sent  ofif  Scipio,  with  Pha- 
meas as  a  trophy  of  success,  to  Rome.  The 
army  escorted  their  favorite  officer  to  the 
coast,  and  prayed  him  to  come  back  as  Con- 
sul; for  all  were  persuaded  that  none  but 
Scipio  was  destined  to  take  Carthage.  The 
Senate  received  Scipio  with  high  distinction, 
and  rewarded  the  traitor  Phameas  with  splen- 
did presents.  His  desertion  was  the  only 
piece  of  success  which  two  Consuls  and  a  great 
army  had  won  in  a  whole  campaign. 

l^he  next  year  (B.C.  148)  passed  still  less 
prosperously.  Piso  did  not  attempt  to  assault 
the  city,  but  employed  his  fleet  and  army  in 
buccaneering  expeditions  along  the  coast.  Dis- 
content and  disorder  spread  among  the  sol- 
diery; and  the  Consul  went  early  into  winter 
quarters  at  Utica.  Meantime  the  spirits  of 
the  Carthaginians  rose.  Their  bitter  enemy, 
Bithyas  old  Cato,  had  just  died,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
tanha-^     five.      Bithyas,   a  Numidian   chief,   deserted 

ginians.  -^         ' 

from  Golossa  with  a  large  body  of  cavalry. 


B.C.  i5c^i46  THE    FALL    OF    CARTHAGE  391 

The  Numidian  Hasdrubal,  who  commanded 
the  garrison,  being  suspected  of  intriguing 
with  his  cousin,  Golossa,  was  put  to  death,  and 
the  other  Hasdrubal  toolc  command  in  the 
city.  News  also  arrived  of  the  Macedonian 
war;  and  it  was  hoped  that  the  Romans  might 
be  altogether  baffled. 

Meanwhile  discontent  arose  high  at  Rome. 
Both  Senate  and  people  had  expected  to  reap 
a  rich  booty  at  Carthage  with  little  trouble, 
and  the  faineans,  who  had  disappointed  them, 
could  hardly  appear  in  public.  It  was  well 
known  that  Scipio  was  the  darling  of  the 
army.  Old  Cato  had  said  of  him,  in  a  line 
of  Homer,  that 

"Only  he  has  living  force,  the  rest  are  fleeting  shades." 

The  people  clamored  for  his  election  as  Con- 
sul, though  by  the  Lex  Annalis  he  was  not 
eligible,  for  he  was  but  thirty-eight  years  of 
age,  and  was  now  a  candidate  for  the  Edile-  deaed 
ship.  He  was,  however,  elected  Consul  at  the 
Comitia;  and  the  Senate  yielded. 

Early  in  the  next  year  (B.C.  147)  Scipio  set 
sail  for  Utica  with  new  levies,  attended  by 
Polybius.  C.  Lelius,  son  of  that  Lelius  who 
had  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  Africanus,  had 
command  of  the  fleet.  The  Consul  fixed  his 
headquarters  in  a  camp  commanding  the  Isth- 
mus of  Carthage;  and  here  his  first  business 
was  to  restore  discipline  in  the  disorganized 
army.     He  ordered  the  crowd  of  idlers  and 


392  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  150-146 


Scipio 


hucksters,  who  were  following  the  camp  for 
plunder  or  petty  traffic,  to  leave  it  immedi- 
ately; and  enforced  strict  discipline. 

He    then    directed    an    attack    against   the 
auacks      suburb  of  INIegara.     Planks  were  laid  from  a 

Megara.  111 

detached  tower  to  the  wall;  and  thus  a  party 
of  soldiers  descended  into  the  place,  and  threw 
the  gate  open  to  their  comrades.  Tib.  Grac- 
chus the  Younger,  destined  to  become  famous 
in  Roman  history,  was  the  first  who  mounted 
the  wall.  The  loss  of  this  suburb  of  gardens 
must  have  been  of  great  moment  to  the  Car- 
thaginians; for  it  deprived  them  of  a  great 
source  of  provisions.  Hasdrubal  showed  his 
vexation  by  putting  his  prisoners  to  death  in 
sight  of  the  Romans.  In  vain  the  Council  en- 
deavored to  restrain  him:  the  savage  soldier 
was  now  lord  of  Carthage,  and  determined  to 
commit  himself  and  his  men  to  a  desperate 
defence.  He  waf  a  greedy  tyrant,  who  fed 
his  gross  corpulence  by  luxurious  living,  while 
others  were  starving;  and  affected  the  pomp- 
ous demeanor  of  an  Oriental  despot  rather 
than  the  simplicity  of  a  patriot  soldier.  His 
men  alone  shared  the  provisions,  which  now 
began  to  come  scantily  into  the  city.  The  un- 
happy townsmen  began  to  feel  the  miseries  of 
want. 

For  not  only  had  Scipio  taken  Megara;  fie 
had  drawn  strong  lines  across  the  isthmus  so 
as  to  cut  off  the  city  from  all  land  supplies; 
and  the  fleet  blockaded  the  harbor,  so  as  to 


Hasdrubal 
massacres 
his  prison- 
ers. 


scipio 
blocks  the 
harbor  with 


i>.c.i5<^i46  THE    FALL    OF    CARTHAGE  393 

make  it  difficult  to  send  in  provisions  by  sea. 
Still,  light  vessels  contrived  to  press  into  the 
harbor  under  full  sail,  when  the  wind  blew 
strongly  landward  and  prevented  the  Roman 
ships  from  keeping  the  sea.  Scipio  deter- 
mined to  cut  ofif  even  these  precarious  supplies 
by  throwing  an  embankment  across  the  mouth  *™°'* 
of  the  harbor.  The  work  was  one  of  infinite 
labor,  and  made  but  slow  progress.  The  Car- 
thaginians, however,  saw  that  it  must  ulti- 
mately succeed,  and  began  to  cut  a  canal  from 
the  inside,  so  as  to  open  a  new  entrance  from 
the  sea  into  their  harbor.  Before  the  end  of 
the  year  this  work  was  completed,  and,  more- 
over, a  fleet  of  fifty  ships  had  been  secretly 
built  in  the  inner  port.  By  the  time  Scipio's 
embankment  was  finished,  the  Romans  had 
the  mortification  to  see  this  new  fleet  sail  out 
by  the  new  entrance;  so  that  it  seemed  as  if  all 
their  labor  had  been  thrown  away.  For  two 
days  they  allowed  the  Carthaginian  fleet  to 
insult  them  with  impunity,  but  on  the  third 
they  attacked  it  with  all  their  ships.  The  battle 
lasted  till  evening  with  some  advantage  to  the 
Carthaginians.  But  as  the  latter  fell  back  to 
the  new  entrance,  they  found  the  passage  im- 
peded by  small  craft;  and  in  the  confusion 
which  ensued  the  Romans  succeeded  in  de- 
stroying the  greater  part  of  the  new  fleet. 

At  the  beginning  of  spring  (B.C.  146) ,  Scipio 
resumed  the  offensive.  While  he  made  a 
feigned    attack   upon   the   walls   of   Cothon, 


394  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  ..c.  .5(^146 

Lelius  succeeded  in  forcing  an  entrance  on  the 
other  side  of  the  city,  and  at  evening  the  Ro- 
man legions  bivouacked  in  the  marketplace 
of  Carthage.  "But  a  long  and  terrible  strug- 
gle was  still  before  them.  From  the  market- 
place three  streets  converged  toward  the  Cit- 
adel. These  streets  were  all  strongly  barri- 
caded; and  the  houses  on  each  side,  rising  to 
the  height  of  six  stories,  were  occupied  by  the 

Desperate  '^  '  r  ./ 

fighting  Carthaginians.  A  series  of  street-fights  en- 
sued, which  lasted  several  days.  The  Romans 
were  obliged  to  carry  the  first  houses  on  each 
street  by  assault,  and  then  to  force  their  way 
by  breaking  through  from  house  to  house,  and 
driving  the  enemy  along  the  flat  roofs.  The 
cross  streets  or  lanes  were  passed  by  bridges 
of  planks.  Thus  they  slowly  advanced  to  the 
wall  of  Bosra.  When  they  had  reached  this 
point  the  city  was  set  on  fire  behind  them. 
Six  days  and  nights  the  flames  continued  to 
rage;  and  as  they  slackened,  the  Roman  le- 
gionaries were  employed  as  pioneers  to  clear 
thoroughfares  for  the  free  passage  of  men  and 
horses. 

During  the  great  labor  of  the  last  days 
Scipio  alone  sought  no  rest.  At  length,  worn 
out  by  anxiety  and  fatigue,  he  lay  down  to  re- 
pose on  an  eminence  commanding  a  view  of 
the  Temple  of  Esculapius,  which,  with  its 
gilded  roof,  crowned  the  heights  of  Bosra. 
He  had  not  long  been  here,  when  the  Cartha- 
ginian garrison,  seeing  no  longer  any  hope, 


B.C.  150-146  THE    FALL    OF    CARTHAGE  395 

ojfifered  to  surrender  the  Citadel,  on  condition  The  dta- 
of  their  lives  being  spared.     Scipio  consented  rendered. 
for  all,  except  Roman  deserters;  and  50,000 
men  defiled  out  of  the  gates  of  Bosra  as  prison- 
ers of  war.     Then  Hasdrubal  and  his  family, 
with  900  deserters  and  other  desperadoes,  re- 
tired into  the  Temple  of  Esculapius,  as  if  to 
make  a  brave  defence.    But  the  Commandant's 
heart  failed  him;  and,  slipping  out  alone,  he 
threw  himself  at  the  feet  of  Scipio,  and  craved  "afs^™;. 
for  pardon.     His  wife,  standing  on  the  base*^^"'*^" 
of  the  temple,  was  near  enough  to  witness  the 
sight,  and  reproaching  her  husband  with  cow- 
ardice, cast  herself  with  her  children  into  the 
flames,  which  were  now  wrapping  the  Cita- 
del round  on  all  sides.     Hasdrubal's  life  was 
spared  to  grace  the  triumph  of  the  conqueror; 
most  of  the  deserters  perished  in  the  flames; 
those  who  escaped,  or  were  taken  elsewhere, 
were  trampled  to  death  by  elephants. 

It  was  during  these  scenes  of  horror,  that 
Scipio,  with  Polybius  at  his  side,  gazed  upon 
the  burning  city,  and  involuntarily  vented  his 
high-wrought  feeling  in  two  well-known 
verses  of  Homer; 

"The  day  shall  come  when  sacred  Troy  shall  be  levelled 
with  the  plain. 
And  Priam  and  the  people  of  that  good  warrior  slain." 

"Assyria,"  he  said,  "had  fallen,  and  Persia  and 
Macedon.  Carthage  was  burning.  Rome's 
day  might  come  nextl" 


386  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  >.c.  ,50-146 

For  five  days  the  soldiery  were  allowed  to 

range  the  ruined  city,  glutting  their  wild  pas- 

sackof      sions.     Yet  enough  of  statues  and  valuables 

Carthage.  °  1  /•     1        t> 

of  all  sorts  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Procon- 
sul, to  adorn  a  triumph  little  less  magnificent 
than  that  in  which  he  had  followed  his  father, 
PauUus,  one-and-twenty  years  before.  Before 
he  left  Africa,  he  celebrated  magnificent 
games,  in  which  all  the  spoil  was  displayed  to 
the  army,  as  had  been  done  by  Paullus  in 
Macedonia. 

Scipio  had  written  laconically  to  the  Sen- 
ate, that  "Carthage  was  taken,  and  the  army 
waited  for  further  orders."  Amid  the  exulta- 
tion of  all  classes,  a  Decree  was  passed  that  the 
walls  should  be  destroyed,  and  every  house 
within  them  levelled  to  the  ground.  A  sol- 
Thecurse  cmu  cursc  was  pronounced  by  Scipio  on  any 
one  who  should  rebuild  a  town  on  the  same 
site.  Not  many  years  after,  C.  Gracchus  was 
sent  to  found  a  colony  on  the  site  of  Carthage 
— a  design  which  failed;  and  its  failure  was 
attributed  to  the  curse  of  Scipio.  But  the  same 
design  was  renewed  by  the  great  Julius,  and 
accomplished  by  Augustus.  This  Colony, 
which  rose  to  be  a  noble  city,  and  in  the  sec- 
ond century  of  the  Christian  era  might  be  re- 
garded as  the  metropolis  of  Western  Christen- 
dom, stood  (as  stated  above)  at  the  southern 
end  of  the  Peninsula,  where  the  Moorish  for- 
tress of  Goletta  now  commands  the  entrance 
of  the  Bay  of  Tunis. 


B.C.ISO-I46  THE    FALL    OF    CARTHAGE  397 

Utica,  for  her  timely  submission,  was  re- 
Warded  with  a  portion  of  the  dominions 
of  Carthage.  The  remaining  territory  was 
formed  into  a  province  under  the  name  of 
Libya,  and  placed  under  the  government*  of 
a  Roman  Magistrate,  being  the  fourth  Prov-  • 
ince  added  to  the  empire  in  this  one  year. 

Such  was  the  end  of  Carthage,  after  an  ex- 
istence of  more  than  seven  centuries. 

FThe  Fourth  Macedonian  War  broke  out  Fourth 

"-  Macedo- 

in  148  and  was  concluded  in  146,  when  Mac-"'*"^**^- 
edonia  became  a  Roman  province.  In  the 
same  year,  Rome  waged  war  with  the  Achean 
League,  gained  the  battle  of  Leucopetra  and 
captured  and  sacked  Corinth.  Greece  then 
became  a  Roman  province  under  the  name  of 
Achaia.] 


THE     FALL     OF     GREECE 

(B.C.  151-146) 


I 


HENRY  GEORGE  LIDDELL 

N  the  same  year  in  which  Lucullus  and 
Galba  took  command  in  Spain,  the  Sen- 
ate was  induced  to  perform  an  act  of 
Release  of  tardy  justicc  in  the  release  of  the  Achean 
kptives^*"  captives.  The  abduction  of  the  best  men  in 
every  state  of  Greece  gave  free  scope  to  the 
oppressions  of  the  tyrants  favored  by  Rome. 
In  the  Achean  Assembly  alone  there  was 
still  spirit  enough  to  check  Callicrates,  who 
never  ventured  to  assail  the  persons  and 
property  of  his  fellow-citizens.  Meantime 
years  rolled  on;  the  captives  still  languished 
in  Etruscan  prisons;  hope  deferred  and  sick- 
ness were  fast  thinning  their  numbers:  the 
Assembly  asked  that  only  Polybius  and  Stra- 
tius  might  return,  but  the  request  was  met 
by  a  peremptory  negative.  At  last,  when 
Scipio  returned  from  Spain,  he  induced  Cato 
to  intercede  for  these  unhappy  men.  The 
manner  of  the  old  Censor's  intercession  is 
characteristic.  The  debate  had  lasted  long 
and  the  issue  was  doubtful,  when  Cato  rose, 

(398) 


..c.  isi-146  THE    FALL    OF    GREECE  399 

and,  without  a  word  about  justice  or  human- 
ity, simply  said:  "Have  we  really  nothing  to 
do  but  to  sit  here  all  day,  debating  whether 
a  parcel  of  old  Greeks  are  to  have  their  coffins 
made  here  or  at  home?"  The  question  was 
decided  by  this  unfeeling  argument,  and  the 
prisoners,  who  in  sixteen  years  had  dwindled  onhe^*'°" 
from  i,ooo  to  300,  were  set  free.  But  when  captives. 
Polybius  prayed  that  his  comrades  might  be 
restored  to  their  former  rank  and  honors,  the 
old  Senator  smiled,  and  told  him  "he  was  act- 
ing like  Ulysses,  when  he  ventured  back  into 
the  cave  of  the  Cyclops  to  recover  his  cap  and 
belt." 

The  men  released  in  this  ungracious  way 
had  passed  the  best  part  of  their'  lives  in  cap- 
tivity. The  elder  and  more  experienced  among 
them  were  dead.  The  survivors  returned  with 
feelings  imbittered  against  Rome;  they  were 
rash  and  ignorant,  and,  what  was  worse,  they 
had  lost  all  sense  of  honor  and  all  principle, 
and  were  ready  to  expose  their  country  to  any 
danger  in  order  to  gratify  their  own  passions. 
The  chief  name  that  has  reached  us  is  that  of 
Dieus.  Polybius  did  not  return  at  first,  and 
when  he  reached  Greece  he  found  his  country- 
men acting  with  such  reckless  violence  that  he 
gladly  accepted  Scipio's  invitation  to  accom- 
pany him  to  the  siege  of  Carthage.  Calli- 
crates,  by  a  strange  reverse,  was  now  the  leader 
of  the  moderate  party.  Dieus  advocated  every 
violent  and  unprincipled  measure.    On  an  em- 


400  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  .51-146 

bassy  to  Rome  the  former  died,  and  Dieus 
returned  as  chief  of  the  Achean  League. 

Not  long  after  (in  B.C.  148)  a  pretender  to 
the  throne  of  Macedon  appeared.  He  was  a 
young  man  named  Andriscus,  a  native  of  Ad- 
thepTe^"^  ramyttium,  who  gave  himself  out  as  Philip, 
a  younger  son  of  that  luckless  monarch.  The 
state  of  Macedonia,  divided  into  four  re- 
publics, each  in  a  state  of  compulsory  excom- 
munication, was  so  distracted,  that,  in  the  year 
151,  the  people  sent  an  embassy  to  Rome,  pray- 
ing that  Scipio  might  be  sent  to  settle  their 
affairs,  and  he  had  only  been  prevented  from 
undertaking  the  task  by  the  self-imposed  duty 
of  accompanying  the  army  of  Lucullus  into 
Spain.  The  Pretender,  however,  met  with 
so  little  success  in  his  first  attempt  that  he  fled 
to  the  court  of  Demetrius  at  Antioch,  and  this 
prince  sent  him  to  Rome.  The  war  with  Car- 
thage was  then  at  its  height.  The  Senate 
treated  the  matter  lightly,  and  the  adventurer 
was  allowed  to  escape.  Some  Thracian  chiefs 
received  him,  and  with  troops  furnished  by 
them  he  penetrated  into  Thessaly.  The  Ro- 
man pretor,  Juventius  Thalna,  was  defeated 
and  slain  by  the  Pretender. 

The  temporary  success  of  Pseudo-Philippus 

(as  the  Romans  called  him)  encouraged  Dieus 

The         to   drive   the   Acheans    into    a    rupture   with 

br'^^k^with  Rome.     The  haughty  republic,  he  said,  was 

at  war  with  Carthage  and  with  Macedon  ;  now 

was  the  time  to  break  their  bonds.     Q.  Metel- 


B.C.ISI-I46  THE    FALL    OF    GREECE  401 

lus,  who  had  just  landed  in  Greece  with  a  con- 
siderable army,  gave  the  Acheans  a  friendly 
warning,  but  in  vain. 

Metellus  soon  finished  the  Macedonianwar. 
At  his  approach  the  Pretender  hastily  retired 
from  Thessaly  and  was  given  up  to  the  Ro- 
man pretor  by  a  Thracian  chief  whose  pro- 
tection he  had  sought. 

Meanwhile,  a  commission  had  already 
arrived  at  .Corinth,  headed  by  M.  Aurelius 
Orestes,  who  summoned  the  chiefs  of  the 
League  to  hear  the  sentence  of  the  Senate  upon 
their  recent  conduct.  He  informed  them  that 
they  must  relinquish  all  claims  of  sovereignty 
over  Corinth,  Argos,  and  Lacedemon — a  doom 
which  reduced  the  Achean  League  nearly  to 
the  condition  from  which  Aratus  first  raised 
It.  The  chiefs  reported  what  they  had  heard 
to  the  Assembly.  A  furious  burst  of  passion 
rose,  which  Dieus  did  not  attempt  to  restrain. 
Orestes  and  the  Romans  hardly  escaped  per- 
sonal violence. 

Orestes  instantly  returned  to  Rome;  and  the 
Senate,  preferring  diplomacy  to  force,  sent  a 
second  commission,  headed  by  Sext.  Julius 
Caesar,  with  instructions  to  use  gentle  Ian-  Romede- 
guage,  and  merely  to  demand  the  surrender 
of  those  who  had  instigated  the  violent  scenes 
lately  enacted  at  Corinth.  A  contemptuous 
answer  was  returned,  upon  which  Caesar  re- 
turned to  Rome,  and  the  Senate  declared  war 
against  the  Acheans. 


Clares  war. 


402  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  .51-146 

Metellus  hoped  to  win  the  glory  of  pacify- 
ing Greece,  as  well  as  of  conquering  Mace- 
donia. He  sent  some  of  his  chief  officers  to 
endeavor  to  bring  the  Acheans  to  their  senses. 
But  their  leaders  were  too  far  committed;  and 
at  the  beginning  of  B.C.  146  Critolaus,  a  friend 
of  Dieus,  who  was  general  for  the  year,  ad- 
vanced into  Thessaly,  and  was  joined  by  the 
Thebans  Thcbans,  always  the  inveterate  enemies  of 
Acheans.  Romc.  MctcUus  had  already  heard  that  the 
Achean  war  was  to  be  conducted  by  L.  Mum- 
mius,  one  of  the  new  Consuls;  and,  anxious  to 
bring  it  to  a  close  before  he  was  superseded, 
he  advanced  rapidly  with  his  army.  On  this 
the  braggart  chiefs  of  the  Acheans  retreated 
in  all  haste,  not  endeavoring  to  make  a  stand 
even  at  Thermopylae.  Their  army  dispersed 
almost  without  a  blow.  Metellus  pushed 
straight  on  toward  the  isthmus.  Thebes  he 
found  desertec^by  her  inhabitants:  misery  and 
desolation  appeared  everywhere. 

Dieus  prepared  to  defend  Corinth.  But 
popular  terror  had  succeeded  to  popular  pas- 
sion; few  citizens  would  enlist  under  his  ban- 
ner: though  he  emancipated  a  number  of 
slaves,  he  could  not  muster  more  than  15,000 
men. 

When  Metellus  was  almost  within  sight  of 
Corinth,  Mummius  landed  on  the  isthmus 
with  his  legions,  and  assumed  the  command. 
The  Romans  treated  the  enemy  with  so  much 
contempt  that  one  of  their  outposts  w^as  sur- 


B.C.  151-146  THE    FALL    OF    GREECE  403 

prised;  and  Dieus,  flushed  with  this  small 
success,  drew  out  his  forces  before  the  city. 
Mummius  eagerly  accepted  the  challenge, 
and  the  battle  began.  The  Achean  cavalry 
fled  at  the  first  onset;  the  infantry  was  soon 
broken,  and  Dieus  fled  into  one  gate  of  Co- 
rinth and  out  of  another  without  attempting 
further  resistance.  The  Romans  might  have 
entered  the  city  that  same  day;  but  seeing ^^^^^^ 
the  strength  of  the  Acropolis,  and  suspecting  ^°""^''- 
treachery,  Mummius  held  back,  and  twenty- 
four  hours  elapsed  before  he  took  possession 
of  his  unresisting  prey.  But  the  city  was 
treated  as  if  it  had  been  taken  by  assault;  the 
men  were  put  to  the  sword,  the  women  and 
children  reserved  to  be  sold  by  auction.  All 
treasures,  all  pictures,  all  the  works  of  the 
famous  artists  who  had  molded  Corinthian 
brass  into  effigies  of  living  force  and  symme- 
try, were  seized  by  the  Consul  on  behalf  of  the 
State;  then,  at  a  given  signal,  fire  was  applied, 
and  Corinth  was  reduced  to  a  heap  of  ashes. 
Mummius,  a  New  Man,  was  distinguished 
by  the  rudeness  rather  than  by  the  simplicity 
of  an  Italian  boor.  He  was  not  greedy,  for  he 
reserved  little  for  himself;  and  when  he  died, 
his  daughter  found  not  enough  left  for  her 
dowry;  but  his  abstinence  seems  to  have  pro- 
ceeded from  indifference  rather  than  self-de- 
nial. He  cared  not  for  the  works  of  Grecian' 
art.  He  suffered  his  soldiers  to  use  one  of  the 
choicest  works  of  the  painter  Aristides  as  a 


404 


THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS 


■.c.  151-146 


draught-board;  but  when  Attalus  offered  him 

Mummius  .  f  .t  •     ^^  1         •  •  1    •, 

sends  works  a  laFffc  sutTi  TOT  thc  painting:,  he  imaeined  it 
Rome.  must  be  a  talisman,  and  ordered  it  to  be  sent 
to  Rome.  Every  one  knows  his  speech  to  the 
seamen  who  contracted  to  carry  the  statues  and 
pictures  of  Corinth  to  Rome.  "If  they  lost  or 
damaged  them,"  he  said,  "they  must  replace 
them  with  others  of  equal  value." 

In  the  autumn  ten  commissioners  arrived, 
as  usual,  with  drafts  of  decrees  for  settling 
the  future  condition  of  Macedon  and  Greece. 
Polybius,  who  had  returned  from  witnessing 
the  conflagration  of  Carthage  just  in  time  to 
behold  that  of  Corinth,  had  the  melancholy 
satisfaction  of  being  called  to  their  counsels, 
— a  favor  which  he  owed  to  the  influence  of 
Scipio.  A  wretched  sycophant  proposed  to 
the  commissioners  to  destroy  the  statues  of 
Aratus  and  Philopemen;  but  Polybius  pre- 
vented this  dishonor  by  sho.wing  that  these 
eminent  men  had  always  endeavored  to  keep 
peace  with  Rome.  At  the  same  time  he  de- 
clined to  accept  any  part  of  the  confiscated 
property  of  Dieus.  Politically  he  was  able 
to  render  important  services.  All  Greece 
south  of  Macedonia  and  Epirus  was  formed 
into  a  Roman  Province  under  the  name  of 
Achaia.  The  old  republican  governments 
of  the  various  communities  were  abolished, 
and  the  constitution  of  each  assimilated  to  that 
of  the  municipal  cities  of  Italy.  Polybius 
was  left  in  Greece  to  settle  these  new  constitu- 


Greece 

formed 
into  the 
Roman 
province 
of  Achaia. 


B.C.  151-146  THE    FALL    OF    GREECE  405 

tions,  and  to  adjust  them  to  the  circumstances 
and  wants  of  each  place.  His  grateful  coun- 
trymen raised  a  statue  to  his  honor  by  the  side 
of  their  old  heroes,  and  placed  an  inscription 
on  the  pedestal,  which  declared  that,  if  Greece 
had  followed  his  advice,  she  would  not  have 
fallen. 

Such  was  the  issue  of  the  last  stru^ffle  forpateof 

°°  Greece. 

Grecian  liberty.  It  was  conducted  by  un- 
worthy men,  and  was  unworthy  of  the  name  it 
bore.  Polybius  had  always  opposed  attempts 
at  useless  and  destructive  insurrection.  He 
considered  it  happy  for  Greece  that  one  battle 
and  the  ruin  of  one  city  consummated  her  fall. 
Indeed,  it  was  a  proverb  of  the  day  that 
"Greece  was  saved  by  her  speedy  fall." 

The  ten  commissioners  passed  northward 
into  Macedonia,  and  formed  that  country,  in 
conjunction  with  Epirus,  into  another  prov- 
ince, with  institutions  for  municipal  govern- 
ment much  the  same  as  those  which  had  been 
established  in  Greece.  It  is  probable  that 
Illyria  also  was  constituted  as  a  province  at 
the  same  time. 

Metellus  and  Mummius  both  returned  to 
Rome  before  the  close  of  B.C.  146,  and  were  Jf'teeuls 
honored  with  triumphs  not  long  after  Scipio^ius.  ""*' 
had  carried  the  spoils  of  Carthage  in  pro- 
cession to  the  Capitol.  In  memory  of  their 
respective  services,  Metellus  was  afterward 
known  by  the  name  of  Macedonicus,  while 
Mummius,  who  appears  to  have  had  no  third 


406  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  «.c.  151-146 

name  of  his  own,  was  not  ashamed  to  assume 
the  title  of  Achaicus. 

[In  Sicily,  in  134,  the  first  slave  insurrection 
broke  out:  order  was  restored  in  132.  Atta- 
lus  III.  bequeathed  his  realm  of  Pergamus  to 
Rome  on  his  death  in  133.  It  was  formed 
into  the  province  of  Asia  in  129.  The  next 
B.C.  134-88.  province  acquired  by  Rome  was  the  southern 
part  of  Transalpine  Gaul  in  118.  In  Africa, 
Marius  gained  further  triumph  for  Rome  by 
overthrowing  Jugurtha  in  104.  In  105,  the 
invading  Cimbri  annihilated  a  Roman  army 
of  80,000  on  the  Rhone  and  passed  on  into 
Spain.  In  102,  Marius  exterminated  them, 
and  the  following  year  an  allied  invading 
northern  tribe,  the  Teutones,  suffered  a  like 
fate  near  Milan.  In  88,  Sulla  was  elected 
Consul  and  civil  war  broke  out  between  him 
and  Marius,  which  lasted  six  years.] 


SOCIAL    AND     MITHRIDATIC    WARS 

(B.C.  90—64) 

EDWARD  AUGUSTUS   FREEMAN 

IN  the  space  of  about  two  hundred  years, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  Samnite  Wars 
to  the  conquest  of  Numantia  and  the  in- 
heritance of  the  province  of  Asia,  Rome  had 
come  to  be  the  mistress  of  all  the  lands  round 
the  Mediterranean  Sea.  The  whole  was  not 
as  yet  fully  annexed  and  made  into  provinces, 
but  no  power  was  left  which  had  the  least 
chance  of  holding  out  against  Rome.  The  Rome  and 
only  great  power  with  which  Rome  had  had 
no  war  was  the  kingdom  of  Egypt.  There 
the  descendants  of  the  first  Ptolemy,  all  of 
whom  bore  his  name,  still  reigned,  and  Egypt 
was  the  richest  and  most  flourishing  of  the 
Macedonian  kingdoms,  and  its  capital  Alex- 
andria was  the  greatest  seat  of  Greek  learning 
and  science.  But  when  the  Romans  began  to 
be  powerful  in  Asia,  even  the  Ptolemies,  who 
often  had  wars  with  the  Seleukids,  began  to 
look  to  Rome  as  a  protector.  It  was  this  vast 
dominion,  while  it  made  Rome  so  great  in 
the  face  of  other  nations,  which  led  to  the  cor- 

(407) 


408  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  90-64 


ruption  of  her  constitution  within,  and  at  last 
to  the  utter  loss  of  her  freedom.  The  form 
of  government  which  had  done  so  well  for  a 
single  city  with  a  small  territory  did  not  do  at 
E%-iisof  ^^^  ^°^  ^^^  government  of  so  large  a  portion 
former*"  0^  the  world.  Throughout  the  Roman  do- 
mcnt""  minions  the  Roman  People  was  sovereign;  the 
Assembly  of  the  People  made  laws  and  chose 
magistrates  from  Rome  itself,  and  sent  out 
generals  and  governors  to  conquer  and  rule 
in  the  subject  lands.  The  provincials,  and 
even  the  allies,  had  no  voice  in  settling  the 
afifairs  of  the  vast  dominion  of  which  they  had 
become  a  part,  and  they  were  often  greatly 
oppressed  by  the  Roman  officers.  Meanwhile 
in  Rome  itself  the  great  offices  had  been  gradu- 
ally thrown  open  to  the  Plebeians  as  well  as 
the  Patricians,  and  hardly  any  legal  distinc- 
tion was  left  between  the  two  orders.  The 
constitution  was  therefore  really  democratic; 
for  the  sovereign  power  lay  in  the  Assembly 
of  the  whole  People,  which  made  the  laws 
and  chose  the  magistrates.  And  in  choosing 
the  magistrates  they  also  indirectly  chose  the 
Senate,  as  it  was  mainly  made  up  of  men  who 
had  held  the  different  magistracies.  Still  the 
constitution  had  a  great  tendency  to  become 
practically  aristocratic.  For  the  men  who 
had  held  great  offices,  whether  Patricians  or 
Plebeians,  began  to  form  a  class  by  themselves, 
and  their  descendants,  who  were  now  called 
nobles,  began  to  think  that  they  only  had  a 


B.C.90-64  SOCIAL  AND   MITHRIDATIC   WARS  409 

right  to  hold  the  offices  which  their  forefathers 
had  held.  Then  again  the  old  citizens  of 
Rome  were  largely  cut  ofif  in  the  endless  wars, 
and  many  freedmen — that  is,  men  who  had 
been  slaves — and  strangers  got  the  citizenship, 
so  that  the  character  of  the  Roman  people 
was  greatly  lowered.  And,  as  every  citizen 
who  wished  to  vote  had  to  come  to  Rome  in 
his  own  person,  the  Roman  Assembly  had  be- 
come far  too  large,  and  gradually  turned  into 
a  mere  mob.  Then  again  many  citizens  were  sodai strife 
wretchedly  poor,  while  rich  men  had  made  ndTanS 
themselves  great  estates  out  of  the  land  which 
rightly  belonged  to  the  commonwealth.  Thus, 
instead  of  the  old  political  strife  between  Pa- 
tricians and  Plebeians,  there  had  come,  what 
was  a  great  deal  worse,  a  social  strife  between 
the  rich  and  the  poor.  While  Rome  had  still 
powerful  enemies  to  strive  against,  these  evils 
did  not  make  themselves  so  much  felt;  but, 
when  Rome  had  nothing  more  to  fear,  they  be- 
gan to  be  very  glaring,  and  men  had  to  seek  for 
remedies  for  them.  And,  along  with  all  this, 
the  Italian  states,  which  had  not  been  raised  to 
Roman  citizenship  but  which  had  borne  a 
great  part  in  the  wars  of  Rome,  now  demanded 
to  be  made  Romans.  The  cause  of  the  poor 
against  the  rich  was  taken  up  by  Tiberius  ^^^ 
Sempronius  Gracchus,  in  the  year  133;  and ^'^*^''^*' 
the  cause  both  of  the  poor  and  of  the  allies 
was  taken  up  by  his  brother  Caius  in  123.    But 

both  of  them  were  murdered  by  the  oligarchs, 
18  Vol.  1 


410  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  90-64 

who  wished  to  keep  all  power  and  wealth  in 
their  own  hands. 

After  the  death  of  the  Gracchi  the  ill  will 

between  the  nobles  and  the  people,  and  the 

further  ill  will  between  the  Romans  and  the 

The  social   Italians,  still  went  on.     The  next  great  leader 

war.  '  ° 

of  the  popular  party  was  Caius  Marius,  of 
whom  we  have  already  heard  as  the  conqueror 
of  the  Teutones.  He  was  not  of  any  high 
family,  but  was  born  at  Arpinum,  an  old 
town  of  the  Volscians,  whose  people  did  not 
obtain  the  full  Roman  citizenship  till  i88. 
His  sympathies,  therefore,  lay  with  the  people 
against  the  oligarchs,  and  still  more  with  the 
Italians  against  either  the  nobles  or  the  mob 
of  Rome.  He  was  an  excellent  soldier,  and 
first  began  to  distinguish  himself  in  the  war 
with  Jugurtha,  who  had  usurped  the  kingdom 
of  Numidia,  whose  King  Massinissa  had  been 
„  .        so  useful  to  Rome  in  the  Punic  War.     This 

Manus 

ju^'rthl.  "^var  began  in  iii,  and  in  io6  Marius  brought 
the  war  to  an  end  and  led  Jugurtha  in  tri- 
umph. Very  soon  after  came  the  invasion  of 
the  Cimbri  and  Teutones  and  Marius's  great 
success  against  them.  He  was  now  the  chief 
man  in  Rome  and  the  leader  of  the  popular 
party.  But  the  complaints  of  the  Italians  still 
went  on,  and  in  the  year  90  most  of  them  rose 
in  arms.  This  was  called  the  Social  War, 
that  is  the  war  with  the  Socii  or  Allies  of 
Rome.  It  was  ended  in  the  course  of  the  next 
year  by  all  the  allies,  except  the  Samnites  and 


B.C.90-64  SOCIAL  AND   MITHRIDATIC   WARS  411 

Lucaruans  in  the  south  of  Italy, submitting  and 
being  made  Roman  citizens.  The  Samnites, 
whom  it  had  cost  Rome  so  much  trouble  to 
conquer  two  hundred  years  before,  still  held 
out.  Marius  held  a  command  in  this  war, 
and  so  did  Lucius  Cornelius  Sulla,  who  had 
been  his  lieutenant  in  the  war  with  Jugurtha; 
but  Marius  did  little  or  nothing,  and  went  far 
to  lose  his  old  credit,  while  Sulla  showed  him- 
self the  rising  man  of  Rome.  Presently  a 
Civil  War,  the  first  in  Roman  history,  broke Thefirst 
out  between  Marius  and  Sulla,  in  which  the^"'  ''^"^ 
Social  War,  which  had  never  quite  come  to  an 
end,  merged  itself.  At  one  stage  of  this  war 
Sertorius,  a  Roman  general  on  the  Marian 
side,  held  Spain  almost  as  a  separate  power, 
having  a  Senate  of  his  own,  which  he  said 
was  the  real  Roman  Senate.  In  83,  Sulla 
came  back  from  his  wars  in  the  East,  of  which 
we  shall  speak  directly,  and  the  Samnites, 
who  had  never  laid  down  their  arms,  joined 
with  the  Marian  party,  and  began  openly  to 
declare  that  Rome  must  be  destroyed.  Rome 
had  never  been  in  such  danger  since  quite  the 
old  times,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
Sulla,  who  now  saved  Rome  and  crushed  the 
Samnites  and  the  Marian  party,  fixed  the  fu- 
ture history  of  the  world  far  more  than  Caesar 
or  any  one  else  who  came  after  him.  Sulla 
now  took  to  himself  the  supreme  power  at 
Rome,  with  the  title  of  Perpetual  Dictator. 
But,  when  he  had  quite  rooted  out  the  Marian 


il2  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  90-64 

party,  and  had  passed  a  series  of  laws  to  con- 
firm the  dominion  of  the  aristocracy,  he  gave 
up  his  power,  and  lived  as  a  private  man  till 
he  died  soon  after.     Rome  had  now  passed 
through  her  last  trial  within  her  own  penin- 
sula.    The  Samnites,  who  had  withstood  to 
the  last,  had  been  utterly  cut  off,  and  the  other 
Italians  had  become  Romans. 
TheMithri-     Whilc  Romc  went  through  this  great  trial 
daticwar.   ^^  home,  shc  had  to  undergo  another  almost 
as  great  abroad.      She  had  to  wage  a  war 
greater  than   any  that  she  had  waged  since 
the   conquest   of    Carthage    and    Macedonia. 
One  of  those  states  in  Asia  Minor  which  had 
arisen,  as  was  before  mentioned,  out  of  the 
ruins  of  the  old  Persian  empire,  was  Pontos, 
the  Kingdom  of  the  Euxine  Sea — Pontos  in 
Greek   meaning   the    sea,    and    specially   the 
Euxine  Sea.     Its  kings  were  of  native  blood, 
but,  like  all  their  neighbors,  they  made  a  cer- 
tain pretence  to  Greek  culture,  and  the  acqui- 
sition of  the  province  of  Asia  by  the  Romans 
made  them  neighbors  of  Rome.     Pontos  was 
now  ruled  by  Mithridates  the  Sixth  or  the 
Great.    A  war  w^ith  him  broke  out  while  the 
Social  War  was  going  on  in  Italy,  and  Mith- 
ridates succeeded  in  winning  all  Asia.     He 
Massacre  of  then  ordcrcd  all  the  Romans  and  Italians  who 

the  Romans  1       1     •  »      •  1  1     • 

were  settled  m  Asia  to  be  massacred  m  one 
day,  which  the  people  everywhere  did  very 
willingly — they  had  made  themselves  so  hate- 
ful. Then  his  generals,  like  Antiochos,  crossed 


B.C.90-64  SOCIAL  AND   MITHRIDATIC   WARS  413 

over  into  Greece,  where  many  of  the  Greeks 
took  his  side.  Sulla  then,  in  87,  came  into 
Greece,  stormed  Athens,  won  two  great  bat-^^^^"^^^ 
ties  at  Chaironeia  and  Orchomenos  in  Beo^ia, 
and  then,  being  called  home  by  the  news  of  the 
successes  of  Marius,  patched  up  a  peace  by 
which  Mithridates  gave  up  all  his  conquests. 
Such  a  peace  was  not  likely  to  last,  and,  as  soon 
as  he  had  a  good  opportunity,  Mithridates  be- 
gan the  war  again.  This  was  in  74,  and  the 
second  war  between  him  and  the  Romans,  first 
under  Lucius  Licinius  Lucullus  and  then  un- 
der Cneus  Pompeius,  called  Magnus  or  the 
Great,  lasted  ten  years.  It  ended  in  the  over- 
throw of  the  Pontic  kingdom,  which  was  split 
up  in  the  usual  way,  and  in  the  complete  re- 
establishment  of  the  Roman  power  in  Asia. 

[In  64,  Pompey  transformed  Syria  into  a 
Roman  province;  and,  in  63,  he  conquered 
Phenicia,  Celesyria  and  Palestine,  storming 
Jerusalem.  In  63,  Catiline's  conspiracy  was 
hatched.     Internal  dissensions  led  to  the  es- 

The  First 

tablishment  of  the  First  Triumvirate  of  Cras-™"""^'- 
sus,  Pompey  and  Caesar,  in  60.  Caesar  con- 
quered Gaul  and  southern  Britain  (58-50). 
Civil  war  broke  out  between  Caesar  and  Pom- 
pey in  49,  when  Caesar  crossed  the  Rubicon. 
He  went  to  fight  Pompey  in  Spain  and  from 
there  to  northern  Epirus,  where  Pompey  had 
the  best  of  the  war.  Caesar  retreated  to  Thes- 
saly,  and  there  Pompey  was  defeated  in  the 


414  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  90-64 


Pompey  decisivc  battle  of  Pharsalus  (48).  Pompey 
fled  to  Egypt  and  was  murdered  on  landing. 
The  Alexandrine  War  (48-47)  was  concluded 
by  Caesar,  who  left  a  Roman  garrison  in 
Alexandria.  In  Asia  Minor,  in  47,  Caesar 
defeated  Pharnaces  in  a  five  days'  campaign. 
In  45,  Caesar  defeated  Pompey's  sons  at  Munda 

M^sfnafld  ^^  southern  Spain.  In  44,  Caesar  was  assas- 
sinated and  civil  war  again  broke  out,  between 
Antony  and  the  assassins.  The  Second  Tri- 
umvirate, Antony,  Octavius  and  Lepidus,  was 
formed  in  43.  The  next  year  Antony  de- 
feated Cassius  at  the  battle  of  Philippi  in 
Thrace,  and  soon  afterward  defeated  Brutus, 

Death  of  who  killed  himself.  Antony  ravaged  Asia 
and  Syria  and  then  followed  Cleopatra  to 
Egypt.  In  40,  after  a  civil  war,  the  empire 
was  divided  between  Octavius,  Antony  and 
Lepidus.  In  31,  war  again  broke  out  between 
Octavius  and  Antony.] 


BATTLE     OF     ACTIUM 

(B.C.  31) 

PLUTARCH 

THERE  happened  at  this  time  a  quarrel 
between  Phraates  and  the  king  of  the 
Medes,  occasioned,  as  it  is  said,  by  the 
division  of  the  Roman  spoils,  and  the  latter 
was  apprehensive  of  losing  his  kingdom.  He 
therefore  sent  to  Antony  an  o-ffer  of  his  assis- 
tance against  the  Parthians.  Antony,  whopianTwar 
concluded  that  he  had  failed  of  conquering  Medes. 
the  Parthians  only  through  want  of  cavalry 
and  bowmen,  and  would  here  seem  rather  to 
confer  than  to  receive  a  favor,  determined  once 
more  to  return  to  Armenia,  and,  after  joining 
the  king  of  the  Medes  at  the  river  Araxares, 
to  renew  the  war. 

Octavia,  who  was  still  at  Rome,  now  ex- 
pressed a  desire  of  visiting  Antony,  and  Caesar 
gave  her  his  permission,  not  according  to  the 
general  opinion,  merely  to  oblige  her,  but  that 
the  ill  treatment  and  neglect  which  he  con- 
cluded she  would  meet  might  give  him  a  pre- 
tence for  renewing  the  war.  When  she  ar- 
rived at  Athens,  she  received  letters  from 
Antony,  commanding  her  to  continue  there, 

(415) 


416  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  31 


Octavia 

visits 
Antony. 


and    acquainting   her  with    his   new   expedi- 
tion. 

Antony  was  all  this  while  preparing  for  his 
Median  expedition,  and  Cleopatra's  creatures 
and  dependants  did  not  fail  to  reproach  his 
unfeeling  heart,  which  could  sufifer  the  woman 
whose  life  was  wrapped  up  in  his  to  die  for 
his  sake.  Octavia's  marriage,  they  said,  was 
a  mere  political  convenience,  and  it  was 
enough  for  her  that  she  had  the  honor  of  be- 
ing called  his  wife.  Poor  Cleopatra,  though 
queen  of  a  mighty  nation,  was  called  nothing 
more  than  his  mistress:  yet  even  with  this,  for 
the  sake  of  his  society,  she  could  be  content: 
reproaches,  but  of  that  socicty,  whenever  she  should  be 
deprived,  it  would  deprive  her  of  life.  These 
insinuations  so  totally  unmanned  him,  that, 
through  fear  of  Cleopatra's  putting  an  end  to 
her  life,  he  returned  to  Egypt,  and  put  off  the 
Mede  till  summer,  though  at  that  time  the 
Parthian  afifairs  were  said  to  be  in  a  seditious 
and  disorderly  situation.  At  length,  however, 
he  went  into  Armenia,  and  after  entering  into 
an  alliance  with  the  Mede,  and  betrothing  one 
of  Cleopatra's  sons  to  a  daughter  of  his  who 
was  very  young,  returned,  that  he  might  attend 
to  the  civil  war. 

When  Octavia  returned  from  Athens,  Caesar 
looked  upon  the  treatment  she  had  met  with 
as  a  mark  of  the  greatest  contempt,  and  he 
therefore  ordered  her  to  retire  and  live  alone. 
However,  she  refused  to  quit  her  husband's 


B.C.3I  BATTLE    OF    ACTIUM  417 

house,  and  moreover  entreated  Caesar  by  no 
means  to  have  recourse  to  arms  merely  on  her 
account.  It  would  be  infamous,  she  said,  for 
the  two  chiefs  of  the  Roman  empire  to  involve 
the  people  in  a  civil  war,  one  for  the  love  of  a 
woman,  and  the  other  out  of  jealousy.  Yet 
even  by  this  conduct  she  was  hurting  Antony,  i" Amonys 
contrary  to  her  inclination.  His  injurious  of^cTavu. 
treatment  of  such  a  woman  excited  a  general 
indignation;  and  the  distribution  he  had  made 
to  his  children  in  Alexandria  carried  with  it 
something  so  imperious  and  so  disparaging  to 
the  Romans,  that  it  increased  that  indignation 
not  a  little.  The  manner  of  doing  it  was  ex- 
tremely obnoxious.  He  summoned  the  peo- 
ple to  the  place  of  public  exercise,  and  order- 
ing two  golden  chairs  to  be  placed  on  a  tribu- 
nal of  silver,  one  for  himself,  and  the  other  for 
Cleopatra, besides  lower  seats  for  the  children, 
he  announced  her  queen  of  Egypt,  Cyprus, 
Africa,  and  Celesyria,  and  nominated  Cesario, 
her  son  by  Caesar  the  dictator,  her  colleague. 
The  sons  she  had  by  him  he  entitled  kings  of 
kings,  and  to  Alexander  he  gave  Armenia  and 
Media,  together  with  Parthia,  when  it  should 
be  conquered.  To  Ptolemy  he  gave  Phenicia, 
Syria,  and  Cilicia.  At  the  same  time  the  chil- 
dren made  their  appearance,  Alexander  in  a^nj^^y 
Median  dress,  with  the  turban  and  tiara;  and  S.^sil'among 
Ptolemy  in  the  long  cloak  and  slippers,  with  chfid?en'^^ 
a  bonnet  encircled  by  a  diadem.  The  latter 
was  dressed  like  the  successors  of  Alexander; 


418  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  31 

the  former  like  the  Median  and  Armenian 
kings.  When  the  children  saluted  their  par- 
ents, one  was  attended  by  Armenian,  the  other 
by  Macedonian  guards.  Cleopatra  on  this, 
and  on  other  public  occasions,  wore  the  sacred 
robe  of  Isis,"*^  and  affected  to  give  audience  to 
the  people  in  the  character  and  name  of  the 
New  Isis. 

Caesar  expatiated  on  these  things  in  the  Sen- 
ate, and  by  frequent  accusations  incensed  the 
people  against  Antony.  Antony  did  not  fail 
to  recriminate  by  his  deputies.  In  the  first 
place,  he  charged  Caesar  with  wresting  Sicily 
out  of  the  hands  of  Pompey,  and  not  dividing 
it  with  him.  His  next  charge  was,  that  Caesar 
had  never  returned  the  ships  he  had  borrowed 
of  him;  a  third,  that  after  reducing  his  col- 
league, Lepidus,  to  the  condition  of  a  private 
man,  he  had  taken  to  himself  his  army,  his 
province,  and  his  tributes;  lastly,  that  he  had 
cssar's  distributed  almost  all  the  lands  in  Italy  among 
against      his  own  soldiers,  and  had  left  nothins:  for  his. 

Antony.  '  '^ 

To  these  Caesar  made  answer,  that  Lepidus 
was  reduced  from  an  incapacity  of  sustaining 
his  government;  that  what  he  had  acquired  by 
war,  he  was  ready  to  divide  with  Antony,  and 
at  the  same  time  he  expected  to  share  Armenia 
with  him;  that  his  soldiers  had  no  right  to 
lands  in  Italy,  because  Media  and  Armenia, 

*  This  robe  was  of  all  colors,  to  signify  the  universality  of 
the  goddess's  influence.  The  robe  of  Osiris  was  of  one  color 
only. 


B.C.  31 


BATTLE    OF    ACTIUM  419 


which  by  their  bravery  they  had  added  to 
the  Roman  empire,  had  been  allotted  to 
them. 

Antony  being  informed  of  these  things  in 
Armenia,  immediately  sent  Canidius  to  the 
seacoast  with  sixteen  legions.  In  the  mean- 
time, he  went  to  Ephesus,  attended  by  Cleo- 
patra. There  he  assembled  his  fleet,  which 
consisted  of  eight  hundred  ships  of  burden, 
whereof  Cleopatra  furnished  two  hundred,  be- 
sides twenty  thousand  talents,  and  provisions 
for  the  whole  army.  Antony,  by  the  advice 
of  Domitius  and  some  other  friends,  ordered 
Cleopatra  to  return  to  Egypt,  and  there  to 
wait  the  event  of  the  war. 

When  Caesar  was  informed  of  the  celerity 
and  magnificence  of  Antony's   preparations,  Amony-s 

o  J  X         I  I  prepara- 

he  was  afraid  of  being  forced  into  the  war*^°''*- 
that  summer.  This  would  have  been  very  in- 
convenient for  him,  as  he  was  in  want  of  al- 
most everything,  and  the  levies  of  money  occa- 
sioned a  general  dissatisfaction.  The  whole 
body  of  the  people  were  taxed  one-fourth  of 
their  income,  and  the  freed  slaves  one-eighth. 
This  occasioned  the  greatest  clamor  and  con- 
fusion in  Italy,  and  Antony  certainly  com- 
mitted a  very  great  oversight  in  neglecting 
the  advantage.  By  his  unaccountable  delays 
he  gave  Caesar  an  opportunity  both  to  com- 
plete his  preparations,  and  appease  the  minds 
of  the  people.  When  the  money  was  de- 
manded, they  murmured  and  mutinied;  but 


i20  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  31 


after  it  was  once  paid,  they  thought  of  it  no 
longer. 

When  Caesar  had  made  his  preparations,  it 
was  decreed  that  war  should  be  declared 
against  Cleopatra;  for  that  Antony  could  not 
be  said  to  possess  that  power  which  he  had 
already  given  up  to  a  w^oman.  Caesar  ob- 
served that  he  was  like  a  man  under  enchant- 
ment, who  has  no  longer  any  power  over  him- 
self. It  was  not  he,  with  whom  they  were 
going  to  war,  but  Mardion,  the  eunuch,  and 
Pothinus;  Iris,  Cleopatra's  woman,  and  Char- 
mion;  for  these  had  the  principal  direction  of 
affairs.     Several   prodigies  are  said  to  have 

Various  .  _^, 

prodigies,  happened  previous  to  this  war.  Fisaurum, 
a  colony  of  Antony's  on  the  Adriatic,  was 
swallowed  up  by  an  earthquake.  Antony's 
statue  in  Alba  was  covered  with  sweat  for 
many  days,  which  returned,  though  it  was  fre- 
quently wiped  off.  While  he  was  at  Patrae, 
the  temple  of  Hercules  was  set  on  fire  by  light- 
ning, and  at  Athens,  the  statue  of  Bacchus  was 
carried  by  a  whirlwind  from  the  Giganto- 
machia  into  the  theatre.  These  things  con- 
cerned Antony  the  more  nearly,  as  he  affected 
to  be  a  descendant  of  Hercules,  and  an  imita- 
tor of  Bacchus,  insomuch  that  he  was  called 
the  Young  Bacchus.  The  same  wind  threw 
down  the  colossal  statues  of  Eumenes  and  At- 
talus,  called  the  Antonii,  while  the  rest  were 
unmoved.  And  in  Cleopatra's  royal  galley, 
which  was  called  Antonias,  a  terrible  phe- 


8.C3I  BATTLE    OF    ACTIUM  421 

nomenon  appeared.  Some  swallows  had  built 
their  nests  in  the  stern,  and  others  drove  them 
away,  and  destroyed  their  young. 

Upon  the  commencement  of  the  waY,  An-Themai 
tony  had  no  fewer  than  five  hundred  armed  ^"""^ 
vessels,  magnificently  adorned,  and  furnished 
with  eight  or  ten  banks  of  oars.  He  had,  more- 
over, a  hundred  thousand  foot,  and  twelve 
thousand  horse.  The  auxiliary  kings,  who 
fought  under  his  banners,  were  Bacchus,  of 
Africa,  Tarcondemus,  of  the  upper  Cilicia, 
Archelaus,  of  Cappadocia,  Philadelphus,  of 
Paphlagonia,  Mithridates,  of  Commagene, 
and  Adallas,  of  Thrace.  Those  who  did  not 
attend  in  person,  but  sent  supplies,  were  Po- 
lemo  of  Pontus,  Malchus,  of  Arabia,  Herod, 
of  Judea,  and  Amyntas,  king  of  Lycaonia  and 
Galatia.  Besides  these  he  had  supplies  also 
from  the  king  of  the  Medes.  Caesar  had  two 
hundred  and  fifty  men-of-war,  eighty  thou- 
sand foot,  and  an  equal  number  of  horse  with 
the  enemy.  Antony's  dominions  lay  from  the 
Euphrates  and  Armenia  to  the  Ionian  sea  and 
lUyria:  Caesar's  extended  from  Illyria  to  the 
western  ocean,  and  from  that  again  to  the  Tus- 
can-and  Sicilian  sea.  He  had  likewise  all  that 
part  of  Africa  which  lies  opposite  to  Italy, 
Gaul  and  Spain,  as  far  as  the  pillars  of  Her- 
cules. The  rest  of  that  country,  from  Cyrene 
to  Ethiopia,  was  in  the  possession  of  Antony. 

But  such  a  slave  was  he  to  the  will  of  a 
woman,  that,  though  much  superior  at  land, 


422  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  31 


to  gratify  her,  he  put  his  whole  confidence  in 
the  navy:  notwithstanding  that  the  ships  had 
not  half  their  complement  of  men,  and  the 
officers  were  obliged  to  press  and  pick  up  in 
Greece,  vagrants,  ass-drivers,  reapers  and  boys. 
Nor  could  they  make  up  their  numbers  even 
with  these,  but  many  of  the  ships  were  still  al- 
most empty.  Caesar's  ships,  which  were  not 
high-built  or  splendidly  set  ofif  for  show,  but 
tight  good  sailers,  well  manned  and  equipped, 
continued  in  the  harbors  of  Tarentum  and 
Brundusium.  From  thence  he  sent  to  An- 
tony, desiring  he  would  meet  him  with  his 
forces,  that  no  time  might  be  lost:  offering  at 
the  same  time  to  leave  the  ports  and  harbors 
free  for  his  landing,  and  to  withdraw  his  army 
a  day's  journey  on  horseback,  that  he  might 
make  good  his  encampment.  To  this  Antony 
returned  a  haughty  answer,  and  though  he  was 
d^uenges  thc  oldcT  man,  challenged  Caesar  to  single 
aS ""  combat;  or  if  he  should  decline  this,  he  might 
meet  him  at  Pharsalia,  and  decide  it  where 
Caesar  and  Pompey  had  done  before.  Caesar 
prevented  this:  for,  while  Antony  made  for 
Actium,  which  is  now  called  Nicopolis,  he 
crossed  the  Ionian,  and  seized  on  Toryne,  a 
place  in  Epirus.  Antony  was  distressed  on 
finding  this,  because  he  was  without  his  in- 
fantry; but  Cleopatra  made  a  jest  of  it,  and 
asked  him  if  it  was  so  very  dreadful  a  thing 
that  Caesar  was  got  into  the  Ladle?* 

*  In  Greek  Toryne. 


B.C.  31  BATTLE    OF    ACTIUM  423 

Antony,  as  soon  as  it  was  daylight,  perceived 
the  enemy  making  up  to  him ;  and  fearing  that  ru"se°"^  ^ 
his  ill-manned  vessels  would  be  unable  to 
stand  the  attack,-  he  armed  the  rowers,  and 
placed  them  on  the  decks  to  make  a  show: 
with  the  oars  suspended  on  each  side  of  the 
vessels,  he  proceeded  in  this  mock  form  of 
battle  toward  Actium.  Caesar  was  deceived 
by  the  stratagem,  and  retired.  The  water 
about  Caesar's  camp  was  both  scarce  and  bad, 
and  Antony  had  the  address  to  cut  off  the  little 
that  they  had. 

There  was  a  neck  of  land  that  lay  between 
Antony's  camp  and  his  fleet,  along  which  he 
used  to  go  frequently  from  one  to  the  other. 
Caesar  was  informed,  by  a  domestic,  how  easy 
it  might  be  to  seize  Antony  in  this  passage,  and 
he  sent  a  party  to  lie  in  wait  for  that  purpose. 
They  were  so  near  carrying  their  point,  that 
they  seized  the  person  who  went  before  An- 
tony, and  had  they  not  been  too  hasty,  he  must 
have  fallen  into  their  hands,  for  it  was  with 
the  greatest  difficulty  that  he  made  his  escape 
by  flight. 

After  it  was  determined  to  decide  the  affair 
by  sea,  they  set  fire  to  all  the  Egyptian  vessels  Prepara- 

'     .        -^  °-' ^  tionsfora 

except  sixty.  The  best  and  largest  ships,  from  navaibauie 
three  ranks  of  oars  to  ten,  were  selected,  and 
these  had  their  proper  complement  of  men, 
for  they  were  supplied  with  twenty  thousand 
foot  and  two  thousand  archers.  Upon  this,  a 
veteran  warrior,  an  experienced  officer  in  the 


424  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.   31 


infantry,  who  had  often  fought  under  Antony, 
and  whose  body  was  covered  with  scars,  cried, 
pointing  to  those  scars,  "Why  will  ypu,  gen- 
eral, distrust  these  honest  wounds,  and  rest 
your  hopes  on  those  villanous  wooden  bot- 
toms? Let  the  Egyptians  and  the  Phenicians 
skirmish  at  sea,  but  give  us  at  least  the  land; 
for  there  it  is  we  have  learned  to  conquer  or 
to  die."  Antony  made  no  answer,  but  seemed 
to  encourage  him  by  the  motions  of  his  hand 
and  head;  though,  at  the  same  time,  he  had 
no  great  confidence  himself;  for  when  the 
pilots  would  have  left  the  sails  behind,  he 
ordered  them  to  take  them  all  on  board,  pre- 
tending, indeed,  that  it  should  be  done  to 
pursue  the  enemy's  flight,  not  to  facilitate  his 
own. 

On  that  and  the  three  following  days,  the 
sea  ran  too  high  for  an  engagement;  but  on 
the  fifth,  the  w^eather  was  fine  and  the  sea 
Battle  of  calm.  Antony  and  Poplicola  led  the  right 
wing,  Celius  the  left,  and  Marcus  Octavius 
and  Marcus  Justeius  commanded  the  centre. 
Caesar  had  given  his  left  wing  to  Agrippa, 
and  led  the  right  himself.  Antony's  land 
forces  were  commanded  by  Canidius,  and 
Caesar's  remained  quiet  on  the  shore,  under 
the  command  of  Taurus.  As  to  the  generals 
themselves,  Antony  was  rowed  about  in  a  light 
vessel,  ordering  his  men,  on  account  of  the 
weight  of  their  vessels,  to  keep  their  ground 
and  fight  as  steadily  as  if  they  were  at  land. 


Actium. 


B.C.  31 


BATTLE    OF    ACTIUM  425 


Disposi- 


He  ordered  his  pilots  to  stand  as  firm  as  if 
they  were  at  anchor,  in  that  position  to  receive 
the  attacks  of  the  enemy,  and,  by  all  means, 
to  avoid  the  disadvantage  of  the  straits.  Caesar, 
when  he  left  his  tent  before  day  to  review  his 
fleet,  met  a  man  who  was  driving  an  ass.  Upon 
asking  his  name,  the  man  answered,  my  name 
is  Eutychus,  and  the  name  of  my  ass  is  Nicon* 
The  place  where  he  met  him  was  afterward 
adorned  with  trophies  of  the  beaks  of  ships,  ^'^f£i^^ 
and  there  he  placed  the  statue  of  the  ass  and 
his  driver  in  brass.  After  having  reviewed 
the  whole  fleet,  and  taken  his  post  in  the  right 
wing,  he  attended  to  the  fleet  of  the  enemy, 
which  he  was  surprised  to  find  steady  and  mo- 
tionless as  if  it  lay  at  anchor.  For  some  time 
he  was  of  opinion  that  it  was  so,  and  for  that 
reason  he  kept  back  his  fleet  at  the  distance  of 
eight  furlongs.  About  noon,  there  was  a  brisk 
gale  from  the  sea,  and  Antony's  forces  being 
impatient  for  the  combat,  and  trusting  to  the 
height  and  bulk  of  their  vessels,  which  they 
thought  would  render  them  invincible,  put 
the  left  wing  in  motion.  Caesar  rejoiced  at  the 
sight  of  this,  and  kept  back  his  right  wing, 
that  he  might  the  more  efifectually  draw  them 
out  to  the  open  sea,  where  his  light  galleys 
could  easily  surround  the  heavy  half-manned 
vessels  of  the  enemy. 

The  attack  was  not  made  with  any  violence 
or  impetuosity:  for  Antony's  ships  were  too 

*  Good  Fortune  and  Victory. 


426  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


B.C.  31 


heavy    for    that    kind    of    rapid    impression, 

which,    however,    is   very   necessary   for   the 

breach  of  the  enemy's  vessel.      On  the  other 

Nature  of    hand,  CsBsar's  ships  durst  neither  encounter 

t  ccom  t.  j^g^j  jQ  j^g^fj  with  Antony's  on  account  of  the 

strength  and  roughness  of  their  beaks,  nor  yet 
attack  them  on  their  sides,  since,  by  means  of 
their  weight,  they  would  easily  have  broken 
their  beaks,  which  w^ere  made  of  large  square 
pieces  of  timber,  fastened  to  each  other  with 
iron  cramps.  The  engagement,  therefore,  was 
like  a  battle  at  hand  rather  than  a  sea-fight,  or, 
more  properly,  like  the  storming  of  a  town : 
for  there  were  generally  three  or  more  ships 
of  Caesar's  about  one  of  Antony's,  assaulting  it 
with  pikes,  javelins,  and  fire-brands,  while 
Antony's  men,  out  of  their  wooden  towers,* 
threw  weapons  of  various  kinds  from  engines. 
Agrippa  opened  his  left  w^ing  with  a  design  to 
surround  the  enemy,  and  Poplicola,  in  his 
endeavor  to  prevent  him,  was  separated  from 
the  main  body,  which  threw  it  into  disorder, 
while  at  the  same  time  it  was  attacked  with 
great  vigor  byArruntius.f  When  thingswere 
in  this  situation,  and  nothing  decisive  was  yet 
effected,  Cleopatra's  sixty  ships  on  a  sudden 
Cleopatra's  hoistcd  thcir  sails,  and  fairly  took  to  flight 
through  the  midst  of  the  combatants;  for  they 
were  placed  in  the  rear  of  the  large  vessels, 

*  His  ships  are  so  called  on  account  of  their  tallness. 
t  Arruntius  must  have  commanded  Caesar's  centre,  though 
that  circumstance  is  not  mentioned. 


B.C.  31 


BATTLE    OF    ACTIUM  427 


and,  by  breaking  their  way  through  them,  they 
occasioned  no  small  confusion.  The  enemy 
saw  them  with  astonishment  making  their  way 
with  a  fair  wind  for  the  Peloponnesus.  An- 
tony, on  this  occasion,  forgot  both  the  general 
and  the  man;  and  as  some  author  has  pleas- 
antly observed,  that  a  lover's  soul  lives  in  the 
body  of  his  mistress,  so,  as  if  he  had  J)een  abso- 
lutely incorporated  with  her,  he  suffered  her 
to  carry  him  soul  and  body  away.  No  sooner 
did  he  see  her  vessel  hoisting  sail  than,  for- 
getting every  other  object,  forgetting  those 
brave  friends  that  were  shedding  their  blood 
in  his  cause^  he  took  a  five-oared  galley,  and, 
accompanied  only  by  Alexander  the  Syrian, 
and  Scellius,  followed  her  who  was  the  first 
cause,  and  now  the  accomplisher  of  his  ruin. 
Her  own  destruction  was  certain,  and  he  vol- 
untarily involved  himself  in  her  fate. 

When  she  saw  him  coming,  she  put  up  a 
signal  in  her  vessel,  on  which  he  soon  wentjo^ns"^ 

^  '  Cleopatra. 

aboard :  neither  of  them  could  look  the  other 
in  the  face,  and  Antony  sat  down  at  the  head 
of  the  ship,  where  he  remained  in  sombre  si- 
lence, holding  his  head  between  his  hands. 
In  the  meantime  Caesar's  light  ships  that  were 
in  pursuit  of  Antony  came  in  sight.  Upon 
this  he  ordered  his  pilot  to  tack  about  and 
meet  them;  but  they  all  declined  the  engage- 
ment and  made  off,  except  Eurycles  the  Lace- 
demonian, who  shook  his  lance  at  him  in  a 
menacing  manner  on  the  deck.  Antony,  stand- 


428  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


■•c.  31 


His  shame. 


ing  at  the  head  of  his  galley,  cried,  "Who 
art  thou  that  thus  pursuest  Antony?"  He 
answered,  "I  am  Eurycles,  the  son  of  Lachares, 
and  follow  the  fortunes  of  Caesar  to  revenge 
my  father's  death."  This  Lachares  Antony  had 
beheaded  for  a  robbery.  Eurycles,  however, 
did  not  attack  Antony's  vessel,  but  fell  upon 
the  other, admiral  galley  (for  there  were  two 
of  that  rank),  and  by  the  shock  turned  her 
round.  He  took  that  vessel  and  another 
which  contained  Antony's  most  valuable  plate 
and  furniture.  When  Eurycles  was  gone,  An- 
tony returned  to  the  same  pensive  posture; 
and  continuing  thus  for  three  days,  during 
which,  either  through  shame  or  resentment, 
he  refused  to  see  Cleopatra,  he  arrived  at  Te- 
narus.  There  the  women  who  attended  them, 
first  brought  them  to  speak  to  each  other,  then 
to  dine  together,  and  not  long  after,  as  it  may 
be  supposed,  to  sleep  together.  At  last,  sev- 
eral of  his  transports,  and  some  of  his  friends 
who  had  escaped  from  the  defeat,  came  up 
with  him,  and  informed  him  that  his  fleet  was 
totally  destroyed,  but  that  his  land  forces  were 
yet  unhurt.  Hereupon  he  sent  orders  to  Ca- 
nidius  immediately  to  march  his  army  through 
Macedonia  in  Asia.  As  for  himself,  he  deter- 
mined to  sail  from  Tenarus  into  Africa,  and, 
dividing  one  shipload  of  treasure  among  his 
friends,  he  desired  them  to  provide  for  their 
own  safety.  They  refused  the  treasure,  and 
expressed   their  sorrow  in   tears;  while  An- 


B.C.  31  BATTLE    OF    ACTIUM  429 

tony,  with  the  kindest  and  most  humane  con- 
solations, entreated  them  to  accept  it,  and  dis- 
missed them  with  letters  of  recommendation 
to  his  agent  at  Corinth,  whom  he  ordered  to 
give  them  refuge  till  they  could  be  reconciled 
to  Caesar. 

In  this  posture  were  the  affairs  of  Antony. 
After  his  fleet  at  Actium  had  long  struggled  the  siain. 
with  Caesar's,  a  hard  gale,  which  blew  right 
ahead  of  the  ships,  obliged  them  to  give  out 
about  four  in  the  afternoon.  About  five  thou- 
sand men  were  slain  in  the  action,  and  Caesar, 
according  to  his  own  account,  took  three  hun- 
dred ships.  Antony's  flight  was  observed  by 
few,  and  to  those  who  had  not  seen  it,  it  was 
at  first  incredible.  They  could  not  possibly 
believe  that  a  general,  who  had  nineteen  le- 
gions and  twelve  thousand  horse,  a  general  to 
whom  vicissitude  of  fortune  was  nothing  new, 
would  so  basely  desert  them.  His  soldiers 
had  an  inexpressible  desire  to  see  him,  and 
still  expecting  that  he  would  appear  in  some 
part  or  other,  gave  the  strongest  testimony  of 
their  courage  and  fidelity.  Nay,  when  they 
were  even  convinced  that  he  was  irrecover- 
ably fled,  they  continued  embodied  for  seven 
days,  and  would  not  listen  to  the  ambassadors 
of  Caesar.  At  last,  however,  when  Canidius, 
who  commanded  them,  fled  from  the  camp 
by  night,  and  when  they  were  abandoned  by 
their  principal  officers,  they  surrendered  to 
Caesar. 


43<">  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  b.c.  31 

[Antony  and  Cleopatra  commit  suicide; 
Egypt  is  made  a  Roman  province,  Octavius 
becomes  sole  ruler  of  the  Roman  world,  and 

Temple 

ciolcd"'  the  Temple  of  Janus  is  closed  for  the  third 
time  in  Roman  history  in  29.  In  12,  Drusus 
leads  Roman  armies  to  the  Weser  and  Elbe, 
and  his  successor  and  brother,  Tiberius,  sub- 
jugates Pannonia  (Southwestern  Hungary). 
B.C.  3(?)  Christ  is  born.] 


THE    NATIVITY    OF    CHRIST 


o 


FREDERIC  W.  FARRAR 

NE   mile   from   Bethlehem   is   a  little 
plain,   in  which,   under   a  grove  of 
olives,  stands  the  bare  and  neglected  The  chap. 
chapel  known  by  the  name  of  "the  Angel  toAn°geito^ 

r  J  &  theShep- 

the  Shepherds.  It  is  built  over  the  tradi- ''^■"'^^ 
tional  site  of  the  fields  where,  in  the  beautiful 
language  of  St.  Luke — more  exquisite  than 
any  idyl  to  Christian  ears — "there  were  shep- 
herds keeping  watch  over  their  flock  by  night, 
when,  lo,  the  angel  of  the  Lord  came  upon 
them,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shone  round 
about  them,"  and  to  their  happy  ears  were 
uttered  the  good  tidings  of  great  joy,  that  unto 
them  was  born  that  day  in  the  city  of  David  a 
Saviour,  which  was  Christ  the  Lord. 

The  associations  of  our  Lord's  nativity  were 
all  of  the  humblest  character,  and  the  very  "">"*>'« 

'  J  surround- 

scenery  of  his  birthplace  was  connected  with'"^' 
memories  of  poverty  and  toil.  On  that  night, 
indeed,  it  seemed  as  though  the  heavens  must 
burst  to  disclose  their  radiant  minstrelsies; 
and  the  stars,  and  the  feeding  sheep,  and  the 
"light  and  sound   in  the  darkness  and  still- 

(431) 


432  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 

ness,"  and  the  rapture  of  faithful  hearts,  com- 
bine to  furnish  us  with  a  picture  painted  in 
the  colors  of  heaven.     But  in  the  brief  and 
The  thrilling  verses  of  the  Evangelist  we  are  not 

shephwis.  told  that  those  angel  songs  were  heard  by  any 
except  the  wakeful  shepherds  of  an  obscure 
village; — and  those  shepherds,  amid  the  chill 
dews  of  a  winter  night,  were  guarding  their 
flocks  from  the  wolf  and  the  robber,  in  fields 
where  Ruth,  their  Saviour's  ancestress,  had 
gleaned,  sick  at  heart,  amid  the  alien  corn, 
and  David,  the  despised  and  youngest  son  of 
a  numerous  family,  had  followed  the  ewes 
great  with  young. 

"And  suddenly,"  adds  the  sole  Evangelist 
who  has  narrated  the  circumstances  of  that 
memorable  night  in  which  Jesus  was  born, 
amid  the  indifiference  of  a  world  unconscious 
of  its  Deliverer,  "there  was  with  the  angel  a 
Mgeof""  multitude  of  the  heavenly  host,  praising  God, 
and  saying.  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and 
on  earth  peace  among  men  of  good  will." 

It  might  have  been  expected  that  Christian 
piety  would  have  marked  the  spot  by  splendid 
memorials,  and  enshrined  the  rude  grotto  of 
the  shepherds  in  the  marbles  and  mosaics  of 
some  stately  church.  But,  instead  of  this,  the 
Chapel  of  the  Herald  Angel  is  a  mere  rude 
crypt;  and  as  the  traveller  descends  down  the 
broken  steps  which  lead  from  the  olive-grove 
into  its  dim  recess,  he  can  hardly  persuade 
himself  that  he  is  in  a  consecrated  place.    Yet 


THE    NATIVITY    OF    CHRIST  433 

a  half-unconscious  sense  of  fitness  has,  per- 
haps, contributed  to  this  apparent  neglect. 
The  poverty  of  the  chapel  harmonizes  well 
with  the  humble  toil  of  those  whose  radiant 
vision  it  is  intended  to  commemorate. 

''Come  now!  let  us  go  unto  Bethlehem,  and 
see  this  thing  which  has  come  to  pass,  which 
the  Lord  made  known  to  us,"  said  the  shep- 
herds, when  those  angel  songs  had  ceased  to 
break  the  starry  silence.  Their  way  would 
lead  them  up  the  terraced  hill,  and  through 
the  moonlit  gardens  of  Bethlehem,  until  they  The  yii- 

o  '  -'  lage  mn. 

reached  the  summit  of  the  gray  ridge  on 
which  the  little  town  is  built.  On  that  sum- 
mit stood  the  village  inn.  The  khan  of  a  Syr- 
ian village,  at  that  day,  was  probably  identi- 
cal, in  its  appearance  and  accommodation, 
with  those  which  still  exist  in  modern  Pales- 
tine. A  khan  is  a  low  structure,  built  of 
rough  stones,  and  generally  only  a  single  story 
in  height.  It  consists  for  the  most  part  of  a 
square  inclosure,  in  which  the  cattle  can 
be  tied  up  in  safety  for  the  night,  and  an 
arched  recess  for  the  accommodation  of  trav- 
ellers. The  leewan,  or  paved  floor  of  the  re- 
cess, is  raised  a  foot  or  two  above  the  level  of 
the  courtyard.  A  large  khan — such,  for  in- 
stance, as  that  of  which  the  ruins  may  still 
be  seen  at  Khan  Minyeh,  on  the  shore  of  the 
Sea  of  Galilee — might  contain  a  series  of  sucH 
recesses,  which  are,  in  fact,  low  small  rooms 
with  no  front  wall  to  them.     They  are,  of 

1»  Vol.  1 


434  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 

course,  perfectly  public;  everything  that  takes 
place  in  them  is  visible  to  every  person  in  the 
khan.  They  are  also  totally  devoid  of  even 
the  most  ordinary  furniture.  The  traveller 
may  bring  his  own  carpet  if  he  likes,  may  sit 
cross-legged  upon  it  for  his  meals,  and  may 
lie  upon  it  at  night.  As  a  rule,  too,  he  must 
bring  his  own  food,  attend  to  his  own  cattle, 
and  draw  his  own  water  from  the  neighboring 
spring.  He  would  neither  expect  nor  require 
attendance,  and  would  pay  only  the  merest 
Theyii-     trifle  for  the  advantage  of  shelter,  safety,  and 

lage  mn.  o  i  j  i 

a  floor  on  which  to  lie.  But  if  he  chanced  to 
arrive  late,  and  the  leeivans  were  all  occupied 
by  earlier  guests,  he  would  have  no  choice  but 
to  be  content  with  such  accommodation  as  he 
could  find  in  the  courtyard  below,  and  secure 
for  himself  and  his  family  such  small  amount 
of  cleanliness  and  decency  as  are  compatible 
with  an  unoccupied  corner  on  the  filthy  area, 
which  must  be  shared  with  horses,  mules,  and 
camels.  The  litter,  the  closeness,  the  unpleas- 
ant smell  of  the  crowded  animals,  the  unwel- 
come intrusion  of  the  pariah  dogs,  the  neces- 
sary society  of  the  very  lowest  hangers-on  of 
the  caravanserai,  are  adjuncts  to  such  a  posi- 
tion which  can  only  be  realized  by  any  trav- 
eller in  the  East  who  happens  to  have  been 
placed  in  similar  circumstances. 

In  Palestine  it  not  unfrequently  happens 
that  the  entire  khan,  or  at  any  rate  the  portion 
of  it  in  which  the  animals  are  housed,  is  one 


fROM    PAINTING  BY  CORREGGIO  Vol.  I.  pp.  43i-44t 

THE    NATIVITY    OF    CHRIST 


THE    NATIVITY    OF    CHRIST  435 

of  those  innumerable  caves  which  abound  in 
the  limestone  rocks  of  its  central  hills.  Such 
seems  to  have  been  the  case  at  the  little  town 
of  Bethlehem-Ephratah,  in  the  land  of  Judah. 
Justin  Martyr,  the  Apologist,  who,  from  his 
birth  at  Shechem,  was  familiar  with  Pales- 
tine, and  who  lived  less  than  a  century  after 
the  time  of  our  Lord,  places  the  scene  of  the 

'    ^  A  cave  the 

nativity  in  a  cave.  This  is,  indeed,  the  ancient 'jj^^^jj^^'^fj 
and  constant  tradition  both  of  the  Eastern  and 
Western  Churches,  and  it  is  one  of  the  few  to 
which,  though  unrecorded  in  the  Gospel  his- 
tory, we  may  attach  a  reasonable  probability. 
Over  this  cave  has  risen  the  Church  and  Con- 
vent of  the  Nativity,  and  it  was  in  a  cave  close 
beside  it  that  one  of  the  most  learned,  elo- 
quent, and  holy  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Church 
— that  great  St.  Jerome  to  whom  we  owe  the 
received  Latin  translation  of  the  Bible — spent 
thirty  of  his  declining  years  in  study,  and  fast, 
and  prayer. 

From  their  northern  home  at  Nazareth,  in 
the  mountains  of  Zabulon,  Joseph,  the  village 
carpenter,  had  made  his  way  along  the  wintry 
roads  with  Mary,  his  espoused  wife,  being 
great  with  child.  Fallen  as  were  their  for- 
tunes, they  were  both  of  the  house  and  lineage 
of  David,  and  they  were  traversing  a  journey 
of  eighty  miles  to  the  village  which  had  been 
the  home  of  their  great  ancestor  while  he  was 
still  a  ruddy  shepherd  lad,  tending  his  flocks 
upon  the  lonely  hills.    The  object  of  that  toil- 


436  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 

some  journey,  which  could  not  but  be  dis- 
the^journey  agreeable  to  the  settled  habits  of  Oriental  life, 
was  to  enroll  their  names  as  members  of  the 
house  of  David  in  a  census  which  had  been 
ordered  by  the  Emperor  Augustus.  In  def- 
erence to  Jewish  prejudices,  any  infringement 
of  which  was  the  certain  signal  for  violent 
tumults  and  insurrection,  it  was  not  carried 
out  in  the  ordinary  Roman  manner,  at  each 
person's  place  of  residence,  but  according  to 
Jewish  custom,  at  the  town  to  which  their 
family  originally  belonged.  The  Jews  still 
clung  to  their  genealogies  and  to  the  memory 
of  long-extinct  tribal  relations;  and  though 
the  journey  was  a  weary  and  distasteful  one, 
the  mind  of  Joseph  may  well  have  been  con- 
soled by  the  remembrance  of  that  heroic  de- 
scent which  would  now  be  authoritatively 
Royal  de-  reco^nizcd,  and  by  the  glow  of  those  Messi- 
Messianic  anic  hopcs  to  which  the  marvellous  circum- 
stances of  which  he  was  almost  the  sole 
depository  would  give  a  tenfold  intensity. 

Travelling  in  the  East  is  a  very  slow  and 
leisurely  affair,  and  was  likely  to  be  still  more 
so  if,  as  is  probable,  the  country  was  at  that 
time  agitated  by  political  animosities.  Bee- 
roth,  which  is  fifteen  miles  distant  from  Beth- 
lehem, or  possibly  even  Jerusalem,  which  is 
only  six  miles  of¥,  may  have  been  the  resting- 
place  of  Mary  and  Joseph  before  this  last 
stage  of  their  journey.  But  the  heavy  languor, 
or  even  the  commencing  pangs  of  travail,  must 


THE    NATIVITY    OF    CHRIST  437 

necessarily  have  retarded  the  progress  of  the 
maiden-mother.  Others  who  were  travelling 
on  the  same  errand  would  easily  have  passed 
them  on  the  road,  and  when,  after  toiling  up 
the  steep  hillside,  by  David's  well,  they  ar- 
rived at  the  khan — probably  the  very  one 
which  had  been  known  for  centuries  as  the 
House  of  Chimham,  and  if  so,  covering  per- 
haps the  very  ground  on  which,  one  thousand 
years  before,  had  stood  the  hereditary  house 
of  Boaz,  of  Jesse,  and  of  David — every  leewan 
was  occupied.  The  enrolment  had  drawn  so 
many  strangers  to  the  little  town  that  "there 
was  no  room  for  them  in  the  inn."  In  the 
rude  limestone  grotto  attached  to  it  as  a  stable, 
among  the  hay  and  straw  spread  for  the  food 
and  rest  of  the  cattle,  weary  with  their  day's 
journey,  far  from  home,  in  the  midst  of  stran- 
gers, in  the  chilly  winter  night — in  circum- 
stances so  devoid  of  all  earthlv  comfort  or 

,         J  ,  ...  M   1        "^         •  •  Birth  of 

splendor  that  it  is  impossible  to  imagine  aJesusChrist 
humbler  nativity — Christ  was  born. 

Distant  but  a  few  miles,  on  the  plateau  of 
the  abrupt  and  singular  hill  now  called  Jebel 
Fureidis,  or  "Little  Paradise  Mountain,"  tow- 
ered the  palace  fortress  of  the  Great  Herod. 
The  magnificent  houses  of  his  friends  and 
courtiers  crowded  around  its  base.  Humble 
wayfarers,  as  they  passed  near  it,  might  have 
heard  the  hired  and  voluptuous  minstrelsy 
with  which  its  feasts  were  celebrated,  or  the 
shouting   of    the    rough    mercenaries    whose 


438  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 

arms    enforced     obedience     to     its     despotic 
lord. 

Guided  by  the  lamp  which  usually  swings 
Adoration  ffom  thc  centFc  of  a  rope  hung  across  the 
shepherds,  cntraucc  of  the  khan,  the  shepherds  made  their 
way  to  the  inn  of  Bethlehem,  and  found  Mary, 
and  Joseph,  and  the  Babe  lying  in  the  manger. 
The  fancy  of  poet  and  painter  has  revelled  in 
the  imaginary  glories  of  the  scene.  They  have 
sung  of  the  "bright  harnessed  angels"  who 
hovered  there,  and  of  the  stars  lingering  be- 
yond their  time  to  shed  their  sweet  influences 
upon  that  smiling  infancy.  They  have  painted 
the  radiation  of  light  from  his  manger-cradle, 
illuminating  all  the  place  till  the  bystanders 
are  forced  to  shade  their  eyes  from  that 
heavenly  splendor.  But  all  this  is  wide  of  the 
reality.  Such  glories  as  the  simple  shepherds 
saw  were  seen  only  by  the  eyes  of  faith;  and 
all  which  met  their  eyes  was  a  peasant  of 
Galilee,  already  beyond  the  prime  of  life,  and 
a  young  mother,  of  whom  they  could  not  know 
that  she  was  wedded  maid  and  virgin  wife, 
with  an  Infant  Child,  whom,  since  there 
were  none  to  help  her,  her  own  hands  had 
wrapped  in  swaddling-clothes.  The  light 
that  shined  in  the  darkness  was  no  physical, 
but  a  spiritual  beam;  the  Dayspring  from  on 
high,  which  had  now  visited  mankind,  dawned 
only  in  a  few  faithful  and  humble  hearts. 

To  the  unilluminated  fancy  it  would  have 
seemed  incredible  that  the  most  stupendous 


THE    NATIVITY    OF    CHRIST  439 

event  in  the  world's  history  should  have  taken 
place  without  convulsions  and  catastrophes. 
In  the  Gospel  of  St.  James  there  is  a  really 
striking  chapter,  describing  how,  at  the  awful 
moment  of  the  nativity,  the  pole  of  the  heaven 
stood  motionless,  and  the  birds  were  still,  and 
there  were  workmen  lying  on  the  earth  with 
their  hands  in  a  vessel,  ^'and  those  who  han- 
dled did  not  handle  it,  and  those  who  took  it 
did  not  lift,  and  those  who  presented  it  to  their 
mouth  did  not  present  it,  but  the  faces  of  all 
were  looking  up;  and  I  saw  the  sheep  scat- P^o'^jf^f 
tered  and  the  sheep  stood,  and  the  shepherd ''''^^'°"^" 
lifted  up  his  hand  to  strike,  and  his  hand  re- 
mained up ;  and  I  looked  at  the  stream  of  the 
river,  and  the  mouths  of  the  kids  were  down 
and  were  not  drinking;  and  everything  which 
was  being  propelled  forward  was  intercepted 
in  its  course."  But  of  this  sudden  hush  and 
pause  of  awe-struck  Nature,  of  the  parhelions 
and  mysterious  splendors  which  blazed  in 
many  places  of  the  world,  of  the  painless 
childbirth,  of  the  perpetual  virginity,  of  the 
ox  and  the  ass  kneeling  to  worship  him  in  the 
manger,  of  the  voice  with  which  immediately 
after  his  birth  he  told  his  mother  that  he  was 
the  Son  of  God,  and  of  many  another  wonder 
which  rooted  itself  in  the  earliest  traditions, 
there  is  no  trace  whatever  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. 

How  long  the  Virgin  Mother  and  her  holy 
Child  stayed  in  this  cave,  or  cattle-inclosurc, 


440  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS 

we  can  not  tell,  but  probably  it  was  not  for 
long.  The  word  rendered  "manger"  in  Luke 
ii.  7,  is  of  very  uncertain  meaning,  nor  can  we 
Mea^e  de- discover  more  about  it  than  that  it  means  a 
G^Vels.''^  place  where  animals  were  fed.  It  is  prob- 
able that  the  crowd  in  the  khan  would  not  be 
permanent,  and  common  humanity  would  have 
dictated  an  early  removal  of  the  mother  and 
her  child  to  some  more  appropriate  resting- 
place.  The  Magi,  as  we  see  from  St.  Mat- 
thew, visited  Mary  in  "the  house."  But  on 
all  these  minor  incidents  the  Gospels  do  not 
dwell.  The  fullest  of  them  is  St.  Luke,  and 
the  singular  sweetness  of  his  narrative,  its  al- 
most idyllic  grace,  its  sweet  calm  tone  of  noble 
reticence,  seem  clearly  to  indicate  that  he  de- 
rived it,  though  but  in  fragmentary  notices, 
from  the  lips  of  Mary  herself.  It  is,  indeed, 
difficult  to  imagine  from  whom  else  it  could 
have  come,  for  mothers  are  the  natural  his- 
torians of  infant  years;  but  it  is  interesting  to 
find,  in  the  actual  style,  that  "coloring  of  a 
woman's  memory  and  a  woman's  view,"  which 
we  should  naturally  have  expected  in  confir- 
mation of  a  conjecture  so  obvious  and  so  inter- 
esting. To  one  who  was  giving  the  reins  to 
his  imagination,  the  minutest  incidents  would 
have  claimed  a  description;  to  Mary  they 
would  have  seemed  trivial  and  irrelevant. 
Others  might  wonder,  but  in  her  all  wonder 
was  lost  in  the  one  overwhelming  revelation 
— the  one  absorbing  consciousness.     Of  such 


THE    NATIVITY    OF    CHRIST  'iil 

things  she  could  not  lightly  speak;  "she  kept 
all  these  things,  and  pondered  them  in  her 
heart."  The  very  depth  and  sacredness  of 
that  reticence  is  the  natural  and  probable  ex- 
planation of  the  fact,  that  some  of  the  details 
of  the  Saviour's  infancy  are  fully  recorded  by 
St.  Luke  alone. 


VICTORY     OF     ARMINIUS 

(A.D.  9) 

E.    S.    CREASY 


A 


MONG  the  Germans  of  high  rank  who 
had  most  readily  submitted  to  the  in- 
vaders, and  become  zealous  partisans 
of  Roman  authority,  was  a  chieftain  named 
Segestes.  His  daughter,  Thusnelda,  was  pre- 
eminent among  the  noble  maidens  of  Ger- 
many. Arminius  had  sought  her  hand  in 
marriage;  but  Segestes,  who  probably  dis- 
cerned the  young  chief's  disaffection  to  Rome, 
forbade  his  suit,  and  strove  to  preclude  all 
communication  between  him  and  his  daugh- 
SS^  ter.  Thusnelda,  however,  sympathized  far 
more  with  the  heroic  spirit  of  her  lover  than 
with  the  time-serving  policy  of  her  father. 
An  elopement  baffled  the  precautions  of  Se- 
gestes, who,  disappointed  in  his  hope  of  pre- 
venting the  marriage,  accused  Arminius  before 
the  Roman  governor  of  having  carried  off 
his  daughter,  and  of  planning  treason  against 
Rome.  Thus  assailed,  and  dreading  to  see  his 
bride  torn  from  him  by  the  officials  of  the  for- 
eign oppressor,  Arminius  delayed  no  longer, 
but  bent  all  his  energies  to  organize  and  exe- 

(442) 


A.D.  9 


VICTORY    OF    ARMINIUS  443 


cute  a  general  insurrection  of  the  great  mass 
of  his  countrymen,  who  hitherto  had  submitted 
in  sullen  hatred  to  the  Roman  dominion. 

A  change  of  governors  had  recently  taken 
place,  which,  while  it  materially  favored  the 
ultimate  success  of  the  insurgents,  served,  by 
the  immediate  aggravation  of  the  Roman  op- 
pressions which  it  produced,  to  make  the  na- 
tive population  more  universally  eager  to  take 
arms.  Tiberius,  who  was  afterward  emperor, 
had  recently  been  recalled  from  the  command 
in  Germany.  In  the  room  of  Tiberius,  Au- 
gustus sent  into  Germany  Quintilius  Varus, 
who  had  lately  returned  from  the  procon- 
sulate of  Syria.  Varus  was  a  true  representa- 
tive of  the  higher  classes  of  the  Romans. 
Accustomed  to  govern  the  depraved  and  de- character 

or  Qf  Q.Varus. 

based  natives  of  Syria,  Varus  thought  that  he 
might  gratify  his  licentious  and  rapacious  pas- 
sions with  equal  impunity  among  the  high- 
minded  sons  and  pure-spirited  daughters  of 
Germany.  When  the  general  of  an  army  sets 
the  example  of  outrages  of  this  description,  he 
is  soon  faithfully  imitated  by  his  officers,  and 
surpassed  by  his  still  more  brutal  soldiery.  The 
Romans  now  habitually  indulged  in  those  vio- 
lations of  the  sanctity  of  the  domestic  shrine, 
and  those  insults  upon  honor  and  modesty,  by 
which  far  less  gallant  spirits  than  those  of  our 
Teutonic  ancestors  have  often  been  maddened 
into  insurrection. 

Arminius  found  among  the  other  German 


444  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  A.0.9 

chiefs  many  who  sympathized  with  him  in  his 
indignation  at  their  country's  abasement,  and 
many  whom  private  wrongs  had  stung  yet 
more  deeply.  There  was  little  difficulty  in 
collecting  bold  leaders  for  an  attack  on  the 
oppressors,  and  little  fear  of  the  population 
not  rising  readily  at  those  leaders'  call.  But 
to  declare  open  war  against  Rome,  and  to  en- 
counter Varus's  armyin  a  pitched  battle, would 
have  been  merely  rushing  upon  certain  de- 
struction. Varus  had  three  legions  under  him, 
a  force  which,  after  allowing  for  detachments, 
can  not  be  estimated  at  less  than  fourteen  thou- 
sand Roman  infantry.  He  had  also  eight  or 
nine  hundred  Roman  cavalry,  and  at  least  an 
equal  number  of  horse  and  foot  sent  from  the 
allied  states,  or  raised  among  other  provincials 
who  had  not  received  the  Roman  franchise. 
Stratagem  was,  therefore,  indispensable;  and 
fe'biis."^ '''^  it  was  necessaryto  blind  Varus  to  their  schemes 
until  a  favorable  opportunity  should  arrive  for 
striking  a  decisive  blow. 

For  this  purpose,  the  German  confederates 
frequented  the  headquarters  of  Varus,  which 
seemed  to  have  been  near  the  centre  of  the 
modern  country  of  Westphalia,  where  the  Ro- 
man general  conducted  himself  with  all  the 
arrogant  security  of  the  governor  of  a  per- 
fectly submissive  province.  Meanwhile,  a 
succession  of  heavy  rains  rendered  the  coun- 
try more  difficult  for  the  operations  of  regular 
troops,  and  Arminius,  seeing  that  the  infatua- 


A.D.9  VICTORY    OF    ARMINIUS  445 

tion  of  Varus  was  complete,  secretly  directed 
the  tribes  near  the  Weser  and  the  Ems  to  take 
up  arms  in  open  revolt  against  the  Romans. 
This  was  represented  to  Varus  as  an  occasion 
which  required  his  prompt  attendance  at  the 
spot;  but  he  was  kept  in  studied  ignorance  of 
its  being  part  of  a  concerted  national  rising ;  Su"ed^ 
and  he  still  looked  on  Arminius  as  his  submis-  the  fiefd. 
sive  vassal,  whose  aid  he  might  rely  on  in 
facilitating  the  march  of  his  troops  against  the 
rebels,  and  in  extinguishing  the  local  disturb- 
ance. 

Varus  therefore  set  his  army  in  motion,  and 
marched  eastward  in  a  line  parallel  to  the 
course  of  the  Lippe.  For  some  distance  his 
route  lay  along  a  level  plain;  but  arriving  at 
the  tract  between  the  curve  of  the  upper  part 
of  that  stream  and  the  sources  of  the  Ems,  the 
country  assumes  a  very  different  character; 
and  here,  in  the  territory  of  the  modern  little 

,  .  /•    T    •  •  I  A  •     •        The  battle- 

prmcipality  or  Lippe,  it  was  that  Armmius  ground. 
had   fixed   the   scene   of   his   enterprise.     A 
woody  and  hilly  region   intervenes  between 
the  heads  of  the  two  rivers,  and  forms  the 
water-shed  of  their  streams. 

Contrary  to  the  usual  strict  principles  of 
Roman  discipline,  Varus  had  suffered  his 
army  to  be  accompanied  and  impeded  by  an 
immense  train  of  baggage-wagons  and  by  a 
rabble  of  camp  followers,  as  if  his  troops 
had  been  merely  changing  their  quarters  in  a 
friendly  country.  When  the  long  array  quitted 


446  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  a.d.  9 

the  firm,  level  ground,  and  began  to  wind  its 

way  among  the  woods,  the  marshes,  and  the 

Difficulties  ravines,   the   difficulties  of  the  march,   even 

of  the  '  ' 

inarch.  without  the  intervention  of  an  armed  foe,  be- 
came fearfully  apparent.  In  many  places, 
the  soil,  sodden  with  rain,  was  impracticable 
for  cavalry,  and  even  for  infantry,  until  trees 
had  been  felled,  and  a  rude  causeway  formed 
through  the  morass. 

The  duties  of  the  engineer  were  familiar  to 
all  who  served  in  the  Roman  armies.  But  the 
crowd  and  confusion  of  the  columns  embar- 
rassed the  working  parties  of  the  soldiery,  and 
in  the  midst  of  their  toil  and  disorder  the  word 
was  suddenly  passed  through  their  ranks  that 
the  rearguard  was  attacked  by  the  barbarians. 
Varus  resolved  on  pressing  forward;  but  a 
heavy  discharge  of  missiles  from  the  woods  on 
either  flank  taught  him  how  serious  was  the 
peril,  and  he  saw  his  best  men  falling  round 
him  without  the  opportunity  of  retaliation; 
for  his  light-armed  auxiliaries,  whp  were  prin- 
cipally of  Germanic  race,  now  rapidly  de- 
serted, and  it  was  impossible  to  deploy  the  le- 
gionaries on  such  broken  ground  for  a  charge 
against  the  enemy.  Choosing  one  of  the  most 
open  and  firm  spots  which  they  could  force 
their  way  to,  the  Romans  halted  for  the  night; 
and,  faithful  to  their  national  discipline  and 
tactics,  formed  their  camp  amid  the  harassing 
attack  of  the  rapidly  thronging  foes,  with  the 
elaborate  toil  and  systematic  skill,  the  traces 


A.D.  9 


VICTORY    OF    ARMINIUS  447 


of  which  are  impressed  permanently  on  the 
soil  of  so  many  European  countries. 

On  the  morrow  the  Romans  renewed  their 
march,  the  veteran  officers  who  served  under 
Varus  now  probably  directing  the  operations, 
and  hoping  to  find  the  Germans  drawn  up  to 
meet  them,  in  which  case  they  relied  on  their 
own  superior  discipline  and  tactics  for  such  a 
victory  as  should  reassure  the  supremacy  of 
Rome.  But  Arminius  was  far  too  sage  a  com- 
mander to  lead  on  his  followers,  with  their 
unwieldy  broadswords  and  inefficient  defen- 
sive  armor,   against  the   Roman  legionaries.  ^    .  .  , 

'         o  o  Arminius  s 

Arminius  suffered  the  Romans  to  march  outt^aakl!"" 
from  their  camp,  to  form  first  in  line  for 
action,  and  then  in  column  for  marching, 
without  the  show  of  opposition.  For  some 
distance  Varus  was  allowed  to  move  on,  only 
harassed  by  light  skirmishes,  but  struggling 
with  difficulty  through  the  broken  ground,  the 
toil  and  distress  of  his  men  being  aggravated 
by  heavy  torrents  of  rain,  which  burst  upon 
the  devoted  legions,  as  if  the  angry  gods  of 
Germany  were  pouring  out  the  vials  of  their 
wrath  upon  the  invaders.  After  some  little 
time  their  van  approached  a  ridge  of  high 
woody  ground,  which  is  one  of  the  off-shoots 
of  the  great  Hercynian  forest,  and  is  situate 
between  the  modern  villages  of  Driburg  and 
Bielefeld.  Arminius  had  caused  barricades 
of  hewn  trees  to  be  formed  here,  so  as  to  add 
to  the  natural  difficulties  of  the  passage.     Fa- 


448  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS 


A.D.  9 


tigue  and  discouragement  now  began  to  be- 
tray themselves  in  the  Roman  ranks.  Their 
line  became  less  steady;  baggage  wagons  were 
abandoned  from  the  impossibility  of  forcing 
them  along;  and,  as  this  happened,  many  sol- 
diers left  their  ranks  and  crowded  round  the 
wagons  to  secure  the  most  valuable  portions 
of  their  property:  each  was  busy  about  his  own 
afifairs,and  purposely  slow  in  hearing  the  word 
of  command  from  his  officers.  Arminius  now 
gave  the  signal  for  a  general  attack.  The 
Thegenerai  fiercc  shouts  of  thc  Gcrmans  pealed  through 

attack.  ^  =• 

the  gloom  of  the  forests,  and  in  thronging 
multitudes  they  assailed  the  flanks  of  the  in- 
vaders, pouring  in  clouds  of  darts  on  the 
incumbered  legionaries,  as  they  struggled 
up  the  glens  or  floundered  in  the  morasses, 
and  watching  every  opportunity  of  charging 
through  the  intervals  of  the  disjointed  col- 
umn, and  so  cutting  ofif  the  communication 
between  its  several  brigades.  Arminius,  with 
a  chosen  band  of  personal  retainers  round  him, 
cheered  on  his  countrymen  by  voice  and  exam- 
ple. He  and  his  men  aimed  their  weapons 
particularly  at  the  horses  of  the  Roman  cav- 
alry. The  wounded  animals,  slipping  about 
in  the  mire  and  their  own  blood,  threw  their 
riders  and  plunged  among  the  ranks  of  the 
legions,  disordering  all  round  them.  Varus 
now  ordered  the  troops  to  be  countermarched, 
in  the  hope  of  reaching  the  nearest  Roman 
garrison  on  the   Lippe.     But  to  retreat  was 


A.D.  9 


VICTORY    OF    ARMINIUS  449 


now  as  impracticable  as  to  advance;  and  the 
falling  back  of  the  Romans  only  augmented 
the  courage  of  their  assailants,  causing  fiercer 
and  more  frequent  charges  on  the  flanks  of  the 
disheartened  army.  The  Roman  officer  who 
commanded  the  cavalry,  Numonius  Vala,  rode 
off  with  his  squadrons  in  the  vain  hope  of  es- 
caping by  thus  abandoning  his  comrades.  Un- 
able to  keep  together,  or  force  their  way  across  ^j.  ^^^^ 
the  woods  and  swamps,  the  horsemen  were^aviir™*" 
overpowered  in  detail,  and  slaughtered  to  the 
last  man.  The  Roman  infantry  still  held  to- 
gether and  resisted,  but  more  through  the 
instinct  of  discipline  and  bravery  than  from 
any  hope  of  success  or  escape.  Varus,  after 
being  severely  wounded  in  a  charge  of  the 
Germans  against  his  part  of  the  column,  com- 
mitted suicide  to  avoid  falling  into  the  hands 
of  those  whom  he  had  exasperated  by  his  op- 
pressions. One  of  the  lieutenant-generals  ofNoquaner 
the  army  fell  fighting;  the  other  surrendered 
to  the  enemy.  But  mercy  to  a  fallen  foe  had 
never  been  a  Roman  virtue,  and  those  among 
her  legions  who  now  laid  down  their  arms  in 
hope  of  quarter,  drank  deep  of  the  cup  of 
suffering,  which  Rome  had  held  to  the  lips 
of  many  a  brave  but  unfortunate  enemy.  The 
infuriated  Germans  slaughtered  their  oppres- 
sors with  deliberate  ferocity,  and  those  prison- 
ers who  were  not  hewn  to  pieces  on  the  spot 
were  only  preserved  to  perish  by  a  more  cruel 
death  in  cold  blood. 


450  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  a.d.  9 

The  bulk  of  the  Roman  army  fought  stead- 
ily and  stubbornly,  frequently  repelling  the 
masses  of  assailants,  but  gradually  losing  the 
compactness  of  their  array,  and  becoming 
weaker  and  weaker  beneath  the  incessant 
shower  of  darts  and  the  reiterated  assaults  of 
the  vigorous  and  unincumbered  Germans.  At 
last,  in  a  series  of  desperate  attacks,  the  column 
was  pierced  through  and  through,  two  of  the 
eagles  captured,  and  the  Roman  host,  which 
on  the  yester-morning  had  marched  forth  in 
such  pride  and  might,  now  broken  up  into 
confused  fragments,  either  fell  fighting  be- 
neath the  overpowering  numbers  of  the  ene- 
my, or  perished  in  the  swamps  and  woods  in 
unavailing  efforts  at  flight.  Few,  very  few, 
The  last  ever  saw  again  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine. 
One  body  of  brave  veterans,  arraying  them- 
selves in  a  ring  on  a  little  mound,  beat  off 
every  charge  of  the  Germans,  and  prolonged 
their  honorable  resistance  to  the  close  of  that 
dreadful  day.  The  traces  of  a  feeble  attempt 
at  forming  a  ditch  and  mound  attested  in  after 
years  the  spot  where  the  last  of  the  Romans 
passed  their  night  of  suffering  and  despair. 
But  on  the  morrow  this  remnant  also,  worn 
out  with  hunger,  wounds,  and  toil,  was 
charged  by  the  victorious  Germans,  and  either 
massacred  on  the  spot,  or  offered  up  in  fear- 
ful rites  at  the  altars  of  the  deities  of  the  old. 
mythology  of  the  North. 

Never  was  a  victory  more  decisive,  never 


stand. 


A.D.  9 


VICTORY    OF    ARMINIUS  451 


was  the  liberation  of  an  oppressed  people  more 
instantaneous  and  complete.  Throughout 
Germany  the  Roman  garrisons  were  assailed 
and  cut  off;  and,  within  a  few  weeks  after 
Varus  had  fallen,  the  German  soil  was  freed 
from  the  foot  of  an  invader. 

At  Rome  the  tidings  of  the  battle  were  re- 
ceived with  an  agony  of  terror,  the  reports  of 
which  we  should  deem  exaggerated,  did  they 
not  come  from  Roman  historians  themselves. 
They  not  only  tell  emphatically  how  great  was 
the  awe  which  the  Romans  felt  of  the  prowess  Terror  in 

'^  Rome. 

of  the  Germans,  if  their  various  tribes  could 
be  brought  to  unite  for  a  common  purpose,  but 
also  they  reveal  how  weakened  and  debased 
the  population  of  Italy  had  become.  Dion 
Cassius  says,  "Then  Augustus,  when  he  heard 
the  calamity  of  Varus,  rent  his  garment,  and 
was  in  great  affliction  for  the  troops  he  had 
lost,  and  for  terror  respecting  the  Germans 
and  the  Gauls.  And  his  chief  alarm  was,  that 
he  expected  them  to  push  on  against  Italy  and 
Rome;  and  there  remained  no  Roman  youth 
fit  for  military  duty  that  were  worth  speaking 
of,  and  the  allied  populations,  that  were  at  all 
serviceable,  had  been  wasted  away.  Yet  he 
prepared  for  the  emergency  as  well  as  his 
means  allowed ;  and  when  none  of  the  citizens 
of  military  age  were  willing  to  enlist,  he  made 
them  cast  lots,  and  punished  by  confiscation  of 
goods  and  disfranchisement  every  fifth  man 
among  those  under  thirty-five,  and  everv  tenth 


Omens. 


452  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  a.d., 

man  of  those  above  that  age.  At  last,  when 
he  found  that  not  even  thus  could  he  make 
many  come  forward,  he  put  some  of  them  to 
death.  So  he  made  a  conscription  of  dis- 
charged veterans  and  of  emancipated  slaves, 
and,  collecting  as  large  a  force  as  he  could, 
sent  it,  under  Tiberius,  with  all  speed  into 
Germany." 

Dion  mentions,  also,  a  number  of  terrific 
portents  that  were  believed  to  have  occurred 
at  the  time,  and  the  narration  of  which  is  not 
immaterial,  as  it  shows  the  state  of  the  public 
mind,  when  such  things  were  so  believed  in 
and  so  interpreted.  The  summits  of  the  Alps 
were  said  to  have  fallen,  and  three  columns 
of  fire  to  have  blazed  up  from  them.  In  the 
Campus  Martius,  the  temple  of  the  war-god, 
from  whom  the  founder  of  Rome  had  sprung, 
was  struck  by  a  thunderbolt.  The  nightly 
heavens  glowed  several  times,  as  if  on  fire. 
Many  comets  blazed  forth  together;  and  fiery 
meteors,  shaped  like  spears,  had  shot  from  the 
northern  quarter  of  the  sky  down  into  the  Ro- 
man camps.  It  was  said,  too,  that  a  statue  of 
Victory,  which  had  stood  at  a  place  on  the 
frontier,  pointing  the  way  toward  Germany, 
had,  of  its  own  accord,  turned  round,  and  now 
pointed  to  Italy.  These  and  other  prodigies 
were  believed  by  the  multitude  to  accompany 
the  slaughter  of  Varus's  legions,  and  to  mani- 
fest the  anger  of  the  gods  against  Rome.  Au- 
gustus himself  was  not  free  from  superstition; 


A.D.g  VICTORY    OF    ARMINIUS  453 

but  on  this  occasion  no  supernatural  terrors 
were  needed  to  increase  the  alarm  and  grief 
that  he  felt,  and  which  made  him,  even  months 
after  the  news  of  the  battle  had  arrived,  often  Despair  of 
beat  his  head  against  the  wall,  and  exclaim, 
''Quintilius  Varus,  give  me  back  my  legions." 
The  Germans  did  not  pursue  their  victory 
beyond  their  own  territory;  but  that  victory 
secured  at  once  and  forever  the  independence 
of  the  Teutonic  race.  Rome  sent,  indeed,  her 
legions  again  into  Germany,  to  parade  a  tem- 
porary superiority,  but  all  hopes  of  permanent 
conquests  were  abandoned  by  Augustus  at;d 
his  successors. 

[Successes  of  Germanicus  against  the  Ger- 
mans arouse  the  envy  of  Tiberius.  He  is  sent 
to  the  East  and  dies  of  poison  in  Syria  in  A.D. 
19.  His  wife,  Agrippina,  is  also  banished  in 
29.  In  41,  Caligula,  their  son,  is  murdered 
and  his  uncle  Claudius  is  proclaimed  emperor 
by  the  Pretorian  Guard.     Christ  is  crucified 

in  33-] 


THE    CRUCIFIXION 

(AD.  33) 


G 


FREDERIC  W.  FARRAR 

O,  soldier,  get  ready  the  cross.  In  some 
such  formula  of  terrible  import  Pilate 
must  have  given  his  final  order.  It 
was  now  probably  about  nine  o'clock,  and 
the  execution  followed  immediately  upon  the 
judgment.  The  time  required  for  the  neces- 
sary preparation  would  not  be  very  long,  and 
during  this  brief  pause  the  soldiers,  whose 
duty  it  was  to  see  that  the  sentence  was  carried 
out,  stripped  Jesus  of  the  scarlet  war-cloak, 
now  dyed  with  the  yet  deeper  stains  of  blood, 

uS^'the  ^^^   clad   him    again    in    his   own   garments. 

Crucifixion.  ^,j^^j^  thc  cross  had  been  prepared  they  laid 
it — or  possibly  only  one  of  the  beams  of  it — 
upon  his  shoulders,  and  led  him  to  the  place 
of  punishment.  The  nearness  of  the  great 
feast,  the  myriads  who  were  present  in  Jeru- 
salem, made  it  desirable  to  seize  the  op- 
portunity for  striking  terror  into  all  Jewish 
malefactors.  Two  were  therefore  selected  for 
execution  at  the  same  time  with  Jesus — two 
brigands    and    rebels    of    the    lowest   stamp. 

(454) 


A.D.  33 


THE    CRUCIFIXION  455 


Their  crosses  were  laid  upon  them,  a  maniple 
of  soldiers  in  full  armor  were  marshalled 
under  the  command  of  their  centurion,  and 
amid  thousands  of  spectators,  coldly  inquisi- 
tive or  furiously  hostile,  the  procession  started 
on  its  way. 

The  cross  was  not,  and  could  not  have  been, 
the  massive  and  lofty  structure  with  which 
such  myriads  of  pictures  have  made  us  famil- 
iar. Crucifixion  was  among  the  Romans  a 
very  common  punishment,  and  it  is  clear  that 
they  would  not  waste  any  trouble  in  construct- 
ing the  instrument  of  shame  and  torture.  It 
would  undoubtedly  be  made  of  the  very  com- 
monest wood  that  came  to  hand,  perhaps  olive 
or  sycamore,  and  knocked  together  in  the  very 
rudest  fashion.  Still,  to  support  the  body  of  a 
man,  a  cross  would  require  to  be  of  a  certain 
size  and  weight;  and  to  one  enfeebled  by  the 
horrible  severity  of  the  previous  scourging, 
the  carrying  of  such  a  burden  would  be  an 
additional  misery.  But  Jesus  was  enfeebled  The 
not  only  by  this  cruelty,  but  by  previous  days 
of  violent  struggle  and  agitation,  by  an  even- 
ing of  deep  and  overwhelming  emotion,  by 
a  night  of  sleepless  anxiety  and  suffering,  by 
the  mental  agony  of  the  garden,  by  three 
trials  and  three  sentences  of  death  before  the 
Jews,  by  the  long  and  exhausting  scenes  in 
the  Pretorium,  by  the  examination  before 
Herod,  and  by  the  brutal  and  painful  de- 
risions which  be  had  undergone,  first  at  the 


456  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


A.D.  33 


carry  it. 


hands  of  the  Sanhedrim  and  their  servants, 
then  from  Herod's  body-guard,  and  lastly 
from  the  Roman  cohort.  All  these,  super- 
added to  the  sickening  lacerations  of  the 
scourging,  had  utterly  broken  down  his  phys- 
ical strength.     His  tottering  footsteps,  if  not 

abieVo"""  his  actual  falls  under  that  fearful  load,  made 
it  evident  that  he  lacked  the  physical  strength 
to  carry  it  from  the  Pretorium  to  Golgotha. 
Even  if  they  did  not  pity  his  feebleness,  the 
Roman  soldiers  would  naturally  object  to  the 
consequent  hindrance  and  delay.  But  they 
found  an  easy  method  to  solve  the  difficulty. 
They  had  not  proceeded  further  than  the  city 
gate,  when  they  met  a  man  coming  from  the 
country,  who  was  known  to  the  early  Chris- 
tians as  "Simon  of  Cyrene,  the  father  of  Alex- 
ander and  Rufus" ;  and,  perhaps  on  some  hint 
from  the  accompanying  Jews  that  Simon  sym- 
pathized with  the  teaching  of  the  Sufferer, 
they  impressed  him  without  the  least  scruple 
into  their  odious  service. 

The  miserable  procession  resumed  its 
course,  and  though  the  apocryphal  tradi- 
tions of  the  Romish  Church  narrate  many  in- 

Thevia  cidents  of  the  Via  Dolorosa,  only  one  such 
incident  is  recorded  in  the  Gospel  history. 
St.  Luke  tells  us  that  among  the  vast  multi- 
tude of  people  who  followed  Jesus  were  many 
women.  From  the  men  in  that  moving  crowd 
he  does  not  appear  to  have  received  one  word 
of  pity  or  sympathy.    Some  there  must  surely 


Dolorosa. 


A.D.33  THE    CRUCIFIXION  457 

have  been  who  had  seen  his  miracles,  who 
had  heard  his  words;  some  of  those  who  had 
been  almost,  if  not  utterly,  convinced  of  his 
Messiahship  as  they  hung  upon  his  lips  while 
be  had  uttered  his  great  discourses  in  the 
Temple;  some  of  the  eager  crowd  who  had 
accompanied  him  from  Bethlehem  five  days 
before,  with  shouted  hosannas  and  waving 
palms.  Yet  if  so,  a  faithless  timidity  or  a 
deep  misgiving — perhaps  even  a  boundless 
sorrow — kept  them  dumb.  But  these  women 
more  quick  to  pity,  less  susceptible  to  control- 
ling influences,  could  not  and  would  not  con- 
ceal the  grief  and  amazement  with  which  this 
spectacle  filled  them.  They  beat  upon  their 
breasts  and  rent  the  air  with  their  lamenta- ^^^^nta- 
tions,  till  Jesus  himself  hushed  their  shrill  i°men/^^ 
cries  with  words  of  solemn  warning.  Turn- 
ing to  them — which  he  could  not  have  done 
had  he  still  been  staggering  under  the  burden 
of  his  cross — he  said  to  them,  "Daughters  of 
Jerusalem,  weep  not  for  me ;  but  for  your- 
selves weep,  and  for  your  children.  For  lo! 
days  are  coming  in  which  they  shall  say. 
Blessed  are  the  barren,  and  the  wombs  which 
bare  not,  and  the  breasts  which  gave  not  suck. 
Then  shall  they  begin  to  say  to  the  mountains, 
Fall  on  us,  and  to  the  hills,  Cover  us;  for  if 
they  do  these  things  in  the  green  tree,  what 
shall  be  done  in  the  dry?"  Theirs  was  but  an 
emotional  outburst  of  womanly  tenderness, 
which  they  could  not  repress  as  they  saw  the 

iv  '^  -'  Vol.  i 


458  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


A.D.  33 


great  Prophet  of  mankind  in  his  hour  of 
shame  and  weakness,  with  the  herald  pro- 
claiming before  him  the  crimes  with  which 
he  was  charged,  and  the  Roman  soldiers  car- 
rying the  title  of  derision,  and  Simon  bend- 
ing under  the  weight  of  the  wood  to  which  he 
was  to  be  nailed.  But  he  warned  them  that, 
if  this  were  all  which  they  saw  in  the  passing 
spectacle,  far  bitterer  causes  of  woe  awaited 
them,  and  their  children,  and  their  race. 
Many  of  them,  and  the  majority  of  their  chil- 
dren, would  live  to  see  such  rivers  of  blood- 
shed, such  complications  of  agony,  as  the 
world  had  never  known  before — days  which 
would  seem  to  overpass  the  capacities  of 
human  suffering,  and  would  make  men  seek 
to  hide  themselves,  if  it  might  be,  under  the 
very  roots  of  the  hill  on  which  their  city  stood. 
The  place  And  SO  with  this  sole  sad  episode,  they  came 
gotha.  °'"  to  the  fatal  place,  called  Golgotha,  or,  in  its 
Latin  form,  Calvary — that  is  "a  skull."  Why 
it  was  so  called  is  not  known.  It  may  con- 
ceivably have  been  a  well-known  place  of 
execution ;  or  possibly  the  name  may  imply  a 
bare,  rounded,  scalp-like  elevation.  It  is  con- 
stantly called  the  "A///  of  Golgotha,"  or  of 
Calvary;  but  the  Gospels  merely  call  it  "a 
place,"  and  not  a  hill  (Matt,  xxvii.  33;  Mark 
XV.  22) .  Respecting  its  site  volumes  have  been 
written,  but  nothing  is  known.  The  data  for 
anything  approaching  to  certainty  are  wholly 
wanting;   and,  in  all   probability,  the  actual 


FROM    PAINTING   BY    HILTON  ^ol.  I,  pp.  454473 

THE   CRUCIFIXION    OF   CHRIST 


A.D.33  THE    CRUCIFIXION  459 

spot  lies  buried  and  obliterated  under  the 
mountainous  rubbish-heaps  of  the  ten-times- 
taken  city. 

Utterly  brutal  and  revolting  as  was  the  two 
punishment  of  crucifixion,  which  has  now  forcusToml 
fifteen  hundred  years  been  abolished  by  the 
common  pity  and  abhorrence  of  mankind, 
there  was  one  custom  in  Judea,  and  one  occa- 
sionally practiced  by  the  Romans,  which  re- 
veals some  touch  of  passing  humanity.  The 
latter  consisted  in  giving  the  sufferer  a  blow 
under  the  arm-pit,  which,  without  causing 
death,  yet  hastened  its  approach.  Of  this  I 
need  not  speak,  because,  for  whatever  reason, 
it  was  not  practiced  on  this  occasion.  The 
former,  which  seems  to  have  been  due  to  the 
milder  nature  of  Judaism,  and  which  was  de- 
rived from  a  happy  piece  of  Rabbinic  exegesis 
on  Prov.  xxxi.  6,  consisted  in  giving  to  the 
condemned,  immediately  before  his  execu- 
tion, a  draught  of  wine  medicated  with  some 
powerful  opiate.  It  had  been  the  custom  of 
wealthy  ladies  in  Jerusalem  to  provide  this 
stupefying  potion  at  their  own  expense,  and 
they  did  so  quite  irrespectively  of  their  sym- 
pathy for  any  individual  criminal.  It  was 
probably  taken  freely  by  the  two  malefactors, 
but  when  they  offered  it  to  Jesus  he  would  not 
take  it.  The  refusal  was  an  act  of  sublimest 
heroism.  The  efifect  of  the  draught  was  to 
dull  the  nerves,  to  cloud  the  intellect,  to  pro- 
vide an  anesthetic  against  some  part,  at  least, 


460  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


A.D.  33 


The  fright- of    the    lingenne:    agonies    of    that    dreadful 

hil  torture.     ,  ,  6  6         6 

death. 

The  three  crosses  were  laid  on  the  ground 
— that  of  Jesus,  which  was  doubtless  taller 
than  the  other  two,  being  placed  in  bitter  scorn 
in  the  midst.  Perhaps  the  cross-beam  was 
now  nailed  to  the  upright,  and  certainly  the 
title,  which  had  either  been  borne  by  Jesus 
fastened  round  his  neck,  or  carried  by  one  of 
the  soldiers  in  front  of  him,  was  now  nailed  to 
the  summit  of  his  cross.  Then  he  was  stripped 
naked  of  all  his  clothes,  and  then  followed 
the  most  awful  moment  of  all.  He  was  laid 
down  upon  the  implement  of  torture.  His 
mheci-oss^  arms  were  stretched  along  the  cross-beams, 
and  at  the  centre  of  the  open  palms  the  point 
of  a  huge  iron  nail  was  placed,  which,  by  the 
blow  of  a  mallet,  was  driven  home  into  the 
wood.  Then  through  either  foot  separately, 
or  possibly  through  both  together  as  they  were 
placed  one  over  the  other,  another  huge  nail 
tore  its  way  through  the  quivering  flesh. 
Whether  the  sufferer  was  also  bound  to  the 
cross  we  do  not  know ;  but  to  prevent  the  hands 
and  feet  being  torn  away  by  the  weight  of  the 
body,  which  could  not  "rest  upon  nothing  but 
four  great  wounds,"  there  was,  about  the 
centre  of  the  cross,  a  wooden  projection  strong 
enough  to  support,  at  least  in  part,  a  human 
body  which  soon  became  a  weight  of  agony. 

It  was  probably  at  this  moment  of  incon- 
ceivable horror  that  the  voice  of  the  Son  of 


A.D.  33 


THE    CRUCIFIXION  461 


Man  was  heard  uplifted,  not  in  a  scream  of 
natural  agony  at  that  fearful  torture,  but 
calmly  praying  in  Divine  compassion  for  his 
brutal  and  pitiless  murderers — ay,  and  for  all 
who   in   their  sinful   ignorance   crucify  him 

°  ^  "Father, 

afresh  forever — "FATHER,  FORGIVE  THEM,  FORf°^|;xf 
THEY  KNOW  NOT  WHAT  THEY  DO." 

And  then  the  accursed  tree — with  its  living 
human  burden  hanging  upon  it  in  helpless 
agony,  and  suffering  fresh  tortures  as  every 
movement  irritated  the  fresh  rents  in  hands 
and  feet — was  slowly  heaved  up  by  strong 
arms,  and  the  end  of  it  fixed  firmly  in  a  hole 
dug  deep  in  the  ground  for  that  purpose.  The 
feet  were  but  a  little  raised  above  the  earth. 
The  victim  was  in  full  reach  of  every  hand 
that  might  choose  to  strike,  in  close  proximity 
to  every  gesture  of  insult  and  hatred.  He 
might  hang  for  hours  to  be  abused,  outraged, 
even  tortured  by  the  ever-moving  multitude 
who,  with  that  desire  to  see  what  is  hor- 
rible which  always  characterizes  the  coarsest 
hearts,  had  thronged  to  gaze  upon  a  sight 
which  should  rather  have  made  them  weep 
tears  of  blood. 

When  the  cross  was  uplifted,  the  leading 
Jews,  for  the  first  time,  prominently  noticed  jni^'iinp^^ 
the  deadly  insult  in  which  Pilate  had  vented 
his  indignation.  Before,  in  their  blind  rage, 
they  had  imagined  that  the  manner  of  his 
crucifixion  was  an  insult  aimed  at  Jesus;  but 
now  that  they  saw  him  hanging  between  the 


462  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  a.d.  33 

two  robbers,  on  a  cross  yet  loftier,  it  suddenly 
flashed  upon  them  that  it  was  a  public  scorn 
inflicted  upon  them.  For  on  the  white  wooden 
tablet  smeared  with  gypsum,  which  was  to  be 
seen  so  conspicuously  over  the  head  of  Jesus 
on  the  cross,  ran,  in  black  letters,  an  inscrip- 
tion in  the  three  civilized  languages  of  the 
ancient  world — the  three  languages  of  which 
one  at  least  was  certain  to  be  known  by  every 
single  man  in  that  assembled  multitude — in 
the  oflicial  Latin,  in  the  current  Greek,  in  the 
vernacular  Aramaic — informing  all  that  this 
man  who  was  thus  enduring  a  shameful,  ser- 
vile death — this  man  thus  crucified  between 
two  thieves  in  the  sight  of  the  world,  was  "The 
King  of  the  Jews." 

The  Jews  felt  the  intensity  of  the  scorn  with 
which  Pilate  had  treated  them.  It  so  com- 
pletely poisoned  their  hour  of  triumph  that 
wan/t^^  they  sent  their  chief  priests  in  deputation, 
begging  the  governor  to  alter  the  obnoxious 
title.  "Write  not,"  they  said,  "  'The  King  of 
the  Jews,'  but  that  'He  said,  I  am  the  King  of 
the  Jews.'  "  But  Pilate's  courage,  which  had 
oozed  away  so  rapidly  at  the  name  of  Caesar, 
had  now  revived.  He  was  glad  in  any  and 
every  way  to  browbeat  and  thwart  the  men 
w^hose  seditious  clamor  had  forced  him  in  the 
morning  to  act  against  his  will.  Few  men 
had  the  power  of  giving  expression  to  a  sov- 
ereign contempt  more  effectually  than  the  Ro- 
mans.     Without    deigning    any   |ustification 


A.D.  33 


THE    CRUCIFIXION  463 


of  what  he  had  done,  Pilate  summarily  dis- 
missed these  solemn  hierarchs  with  the  curt 
and  contemptuous  reply,  "What  I  have  writ- 
ten, I  have  written." 

In  order  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  any 
rescue,  even  at  the  last  moment — since  in- 
stances had  been  known  of  men  taken  from  the 
cross  and  restored  to  life — a  quaternion  of  sol- 
diers with  their  centurion  were  left  on  the 
ground  to  guard  the  cross.  The  clothes  of 
the  victims  always  fell  as  perquisites  to  the 
men  who  had  to  perform  so  weary  and 
disagreeable  an  office.  Little  dreaming  how 
exactly  they  were  fulfilling  the  mystic  inti- 
mation of  olden  Jewish  prophecy,  they  pro- 
ceeded, therefore,  to  divide  between  them  the 
garments  of  Jesus.    The  tallith  they  tore  into 

r  L     LI  •  •  •  1  1       Sharing  the 

four  parts,  probably  rippmg  it  down  the '^^'"'^nt. 
seams  (Deut.  xxii.  12)  ;  but  the  cetoneth,  or 
under  garment,  was  formed  of  one  continuous 
woven  texture,  and  to  tear  would  have  been  to 
spoil  it;  they  therefore  contented  themselves 
with  letting  it  become  the  property  of  one  of 
the  four  to  whom  it  should  fall  by  lot.  When 
this  had  been  decided,  they  sat  down  and 
watched  him  till  the  end,  beguiling  the  weary 
lingering  hours  by  eating  and  drinking,  and 
gibing,  and  playing  dice. 

It  was  a  scene  of  tumult.     The  great  body 
of  the  people  seem  to  have  stood  silently  ^^Qandxxct 
gaze;  but  some  few  of  them  as  they  passed  bymuuftude. 
the  cross — perhaps  some  of  the   many  false 


464  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  a.d.  33 

witnesses  and  other  conspirators  of  the  pre- 
vious night — mocked  at  Jesus  with  insulting 
noises  and  furious  taunts,  especially  bidding 
him  come  down  from  the  cross  and  save  him- 
self, since  he  could  destroy  the  Temple  and 
build  it  in  three  days.  And  the  chief  priests, 
and  scribes,  and  elders,  less  awe-struck,  less 
compassionate  than  the  mass  of  the  people, 
were  not  ashamed  to  disgrace  their  gray- 
haired  dignity  and  lofty  reputation  by  adding 
their  heartless  reproaches  to  those  of  the  evil 
few.  Unrestrained  by  the  noble  patience  of 
the  suf]ferer,  unsated  by  the  accomplishment 
of  their  wicked  vengeance,  unmoved  by  the 
sight  of  helpless  anguish  and  the  look  of  eyes 
that  began  to  glaze  in  death,  they  congratu- 
cruei  lated  one  another  under  his  cross  with  scorn- 
ful insolence — "He  saved  others,  himself  he 
can  not  save,"  "Let  this  Christ,  this  King  of 
Israel,  descend  now  from  the  cross,  that  we 
may  see  and  believe."  No  wonder  then  that 
the  ignorant  soldiers  took  their  share  of  mock- 
ery with  these  shameless  and  unvenerable 
hierarchs:  no  wonder  that,  at  their  midday 
meal,  they  pledged  in  mock  hilarity  the  dying 
man,  cruelly  holding  up  toward  his  burning 
lips  their  cups  of  sour  wine,  and  echoing  the 
Jewish  taunts  against  the  weakness  of  the  king 
whose  throne  was  a  cross,  whose  crown  was 
thorns.  Nay,  even  the  poor  wretches  who 
were  crucified  with  him  caught  the  hideous 
infection;  comrades,  perhaps,  of  the  respited 


mockery. 


A.D.  33 


THE    CRUCIFIXION  465 


Bar-Abbas — heirs  of  the  rebellious  fury  of 
a  Judas  the  Gaulonite — trained  to  recognize 
no  Messiah  but  a  Messiah  of  the  sword,  they 
reproachfully  bade  him,  if  his  claims  were 
true,  to  save  himself  and  them.  So  all  the 
voices  about  him  rang  with  blasphemy  and 
spite,  and  in  that  long  slow  agony  his  dying 
ear  caught  no  accent  of  gratitude,  of  pity,  or 
of  love.  Baseness,  falsehood,  savagery,  stu- 
pidity— such  were  the  characteristics  of  the 
world  which  thrust  itself  into  hideous  promi- 
nence before  the  Saviour's  last  consciousness 
— such  the  muddy  and  miserable  stream  that 
rolled  under  the  cross  before  his  dying  eyes. 

But  amid  this  chorus  of  infamy  Jesus  spoke 
not.  So  far  as  the  malice  of  the  passers-by,  and"^^^"^^''*""'' 
of  priests  and  Sanhedrists,  and  soldiers,  and 
of  these  poor  robbers,  who  suffered  with  him, 
was  concerned — as  before  during  the  trial  so 
now  upon  the  cross — he  maintained  unbroken 
his  kingly  silence. 

But  that  silence,  joined  to  his  patient  maj- 
esty and  the  divine  holiness  and  innocence 
which  radiated  from  him  like  a  halo,  was 
more  eloquent  than  any  words.  It  told  earliest 
on  one  of  the  crucified  robbers.  At  first  this 
"bonus  latro"  of  the  Apocryphal  Gospel  seems 
to  have  faintly  joined  in  the  reproaches  ut- 
tered by  his  fellow-sinner;  but  when  those  re- 
proaches merged  into  deeper  blasphemy,  heTherepent. 
spoke  out  his  inmost  thought.  The  dying  rob- 
ber had  joined  at  first  in  the  half-taunting, 


466  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  a.d.  33 

half-despairing  appeal  to  a  defeat  and  weak- 
ness which  contradicted  all  that  he  had  hoped; 
but  now  this  defeat  seemed  to  be  greater  than 
victory,  and  this  weakness  more  irresistible 
than  strength.  As  he  looked,  the  faith  in  his 
heart  dawned  more  and  more  into  the  perfect 
day.  He  had  long  ceased  to  utter  any  re- 
proachful words;  he  now  rebuked  his  com- 
rade's blasphemies.  Ought  not  the  sufifering 
innocence  of  him  who  hung  between  them  to 
shame  into  silence  their  just  punishment  and 
flagrant  guilt?  And  so,  turning  his  head  to 
Jesus,  he  uttered  the  intense  appeal,  "O  Jesus, 
remember  me  when  thou  comest  in  thy  king- 
dom." Then  he,  who  had  been  mute  amid  in- 
vectives, spake  at  once  in  surpassing  answer 
to  that  humble  prayer,  "Verily,  I  say  to  thee, 
To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  Paradise." 

Though  none  spoke  to  comfort  Jesus — 
though  deep  grief,  and  terror,  and  amaze- 
ment kept  them  dumb — yet  there  were  hearts 
amid  the  crowd  that  beat  in  sympathy  with 
the  awful  sufferer.  At  a  distance  stood  a  num- 
ber of  women  looking  on,  and  perhaps,  even  at 
that  dread  hour,  expecting  his  immediate  de- 
The women  livcrauce.  Many  of  these  were  women  who 
had  ministered  to  him  in  Galilee,  and  had 
come  from  thence  in  the  great  band  of  Gali- 
lean pilgrims.  Conspicuous  among  this  heart- 
stricken  group  were  his  mother  Mary,  Mary 
of  Magdala,  Mary  the  wife  of  Clopas,  mother 
of  James  and  Joses,  and  Salome  the  wife  of 


j.t  the  cross. 


A.D.  33 


THE    CRUCIFIXION  467 


Zebedee.  Some  of  them,  as  the  hours  ad- 
vanced, stole  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  cross, 
and  at  length  the  filming  eye  of  the  Saviour  ^j^^^^^j^^^ 
fell  on  his  own  mother  Mary,  as,  with  theb?k>ved 
sword  piercing  through  and  through  her*^""^'^ 
heart,  she  stood  with  the  disciple  whom  he 
loved.  Tenderly  and  sadly  he  thought  of 
the  future  that  awaited  her  during  the  remain- 
ing years  of  her  life  on  earth,  troubled  as  they 
must  be  by  the  tumults  and  persecutions  of  a 
struggling  and  nascent  faith.  After  his  resur- 
rection her  lot  was  wholly  cast  among  his 
apostles,  and  the  apostle  whom  he  loved  the 
most,  the  apostle  who  was  nearest  to  him  in 
heart  and  life,  seemed  the  fittest  to  take  care 
of  her.  To  him,  therefore — to  John,  whom 
he  had  loved  more  than  his  brethren — to  John, 
whose  head  had  leaned  upon  his  breast  at  the 
Last  Supper,  he  consigned  her  as  a  sacred 
charge.  "Woman,"  he  said  to  her,  in  fewest 
words,  but  in  words  which  breathed  the  utter- 
most spirit  of  tenderness,  "behold  thy  son";jesus 
and  then  to  St.  John,  "Behold  thy  mother."  motlVin 

■J  >  ^  •/  charge  of 

He  could  make  no  gesture  with  those  pierced  J°^- 
hands,  but  he  could  bend  his  head.  They  lis- 
tened in  speechless  emotion,  but  from  that 
hour — perhaps  from  that  very  moment — lead- 
ing her  away  from  a  spectacle  which  did  but 
torture  her  soul  with  unavailing  agony,  that 
disciple  took  her  to  his  own  home. 

It  was  now  noon,  and  at  the  holy  city  the 
sunshine  should  have  been  burning  over  that 


Darkness 
at  noon. 


468  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  ^.d,  33 

scene  of  horror  with  a  power  such  as  it  has 
in  the  full  depth  of  an  English  summer-time. 
But  instead  of  this,  the  face  of  the  heavens  was 
black,  and  the  noonday  sun  was  "turned  into 
darkness,"  on  "this  great  and  terrible  day  of 
the  Lord."  It  could  have  been  no  darkness 
of  any  natural  eclipse,  for  the  Paschal  moon 
was  at  the  full;  but  it  was  one  of  those 
"signs  from  heaven"  for  which,  during  the 
ministry  of  Jesus,  the  Pharisees  had  so  often 
clamored  in  vain.  The  early  fathers  appealed 
to  pagan  authorities — the  historian  Phallus, 
the  chronicler  Phlegon — for  such  a  darkness; 
but  we  have  no  means  of  testing  the  accuracy 
of  these  references,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that 
the  darkness  was  a  local  gloom  which  hung 
densely  over  the  guilty  city  and  its  immediate 
neighborhood.  But  whatever  it  was,  it  clearly 
filled  the  minds  of  all  who  beheld  it  with  yet 
deeper  misgiving.  The  taunts  and  jeers  of  the 
Jewish  priests  and  the  heathen  soldiers  were 
evidently  confined  to  the  earlier  hours  of  the 
crucifixion.  Its  later  stages  seem  to  have 
thrilled  alike  the  guilty  and  the  innocent  with 
emotions  of  dread  and  horror.  Of  the  inci- 
dents of  those  last  three  hours  we  are  told 
nothing,  and  that  awful  obscuration  of  the 
noonday  sun  may  well  have  overawed  every 
heart  into  an  inaction  respecting  which  there 
ofTsus.  was  nothing  to  relate.  But  toward  the  close  of 
that  time  his  anguish  culminated,  and  emptied 
■ — to  the  very  uttermost  of  that  glory  which  he 


A.D.33  THE    CRUCIFIXION  469 

had  since  the  world  began — drinking  to  the 
very  deepest  dregs  the  cup  of  humiliation  and 
bitterness — enduring,  not  only  to  have  taken 
upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,  but  also  to 
suffer  the  last  infamy  which  human  hatred 
could  impose  on  servile  helplessness — he  ut- 
tered that  mysterious  cry,  of  which  the  full 
significance  will  never  be  fathomed  by  man — 
"Eli,  Eli,  lama  sabachthani?"  ("My  God,  my  terfous  c"ry, 
God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?") 

In  those  words,  quoting  the  Psalm  in  which 
the  early  fathers  rightly  saw  a  far-off  proph- 
ecy of  the  whole  passion  of  Christ,  he  bor- 
rowed from  David's  utter  agony  the  expres- 
sion of  his  own. 

But  now  the  end  was  very  rapidly  approach- 
ing, and  Jesus,  who  had  been  hanging  for 
nearly  six  hours  upon  the  cross,  was  suffering 
from  that  torment  of  thirst  which  is  most  diffi- 
cult of  all  for  the  human  frame  to  bear — per- 
haps the  most  unmitigated  of  the  many  separate 
sources  of  anguish  which  were  combined  in 
this  worst  form  of  death.  No  doubt  this 
burning  thirst  was  aggravated  by  seeing  the 
Roman  soldiers  drinking  so  near  the  cross; 
and  happily  for  mankind,  Jesus  had  never 
sanctioned  the  unnatural  affectation  of  stoic 
impassibility.  And  so  he  uttered  the  one  sole 
word  of  physical  suffering  which  had  been 
wrung  from  him  by  all  the  hours  in  which  he 
had  endured  the  extreme  of  all  that  man  can  "i  thirst.- 
inflict.     He   cried   aloud,   "I   thirst."     Prob- 


470  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


A.D.  33 


ably  a  few  hours  before  the  cry  would  only 
have  provoked  a  roar  of  frantic  mockery;  but 
now  the  lookers-on  were  reduced  by  awe  to  a 
readier  humanity.  Near  the  cross  there  lay 
on  the  ground  the  large  earthen  vessel  con- 
taining the  posca,  which  was  the  ordinary 
drink  of  the  Roman  soldiers.  The  mouth  of 
it  was  filled  with  a  piece  of  sponge,  which 
served  as  a  cork.  Instantly  some  one — we 
know  not  whether  he  was  friend  or  enemy, 
or  merely  one  who  was  there  out  of  idle  curi- 
osity— took  out  the  sponge  and  dipped  it  in  the 
posca  to  give  it  to  Jesus.  But  low  as  was  the 
elevation  of  the  cross,  the  head  of  the  sufferer, 
mingled     as  it  rcstcd  on  the  horizontal  beam  of  the  ac- 

with 

hyssop."  cursed  tree,  was  just  beyond  the  man's  reach; 
and  therefore  he  put  the  sponge  at  the  end  of 
a  stock  of  hyssop — about  a  foot  long — and 
held  it  up  to  the  parched  and  dying  lips.  Even 
this  simple  act  of  pity,  which  Jesus  did  not 
refuse,  seemed  to  jar  upon  the  condition  of 
nervous  excitement  with  which  some  of  the 
multitude  were  looking  on.  "Let  be,"  they 
said  to  the  man,  "let  us  see  whether  Elias  is 
coming  to  save  him."  The  man  did  not  de- 
sist from  this  act  of  mercy,  but  when  it  was 
done,  he,  too,  seems  to  have  echoed  those  un- 
easy words.  But  Elias  came  not,  nor  human 
comforter,  nor  angel  deliverer.  It  was  the  will 
of  God,  it  \Y^s  the  will  of  the  Son  of  God,  that 
he  should  be  "perfected  through  suffering"; 
— that — for   the   eternal   example  of   all   his 


^i,.33  THE    CRUCIFIXION  471 

children  as  long  as  the  world  should  last — 
he  should  "endure  unto  the  end." 

And  now  the  end  was  come.  Once  more, 
in  the  words  of  the  sweet  Psalmist  of  Israel 
(Psa.  xxxi.  5),  but  adding  to  them  that  title 
of  trustful  love  which,  through  him,  is  per- 
mitted to  the  use  of  all  mankind,  "Father,"  he 
said,  "into  thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit." 
Then  with  one  more  effort  he  uttered  the  lastwordsf^ 
cry — "It  is  finished."  It  may  be  that  that 
great  cry  ruptured  some  of  the  vessels  of  his 
heart;  for  no  sooner  had  it  been  uttered  than 
he  bowed  his  head  upon  his  breast,  and  yielded 
his  life,  "a  ransom  for  many" — a  willing  sacri- 
fice to  his  heavenly  father.  "Finished  was  his 
holy  life;  with  his  life  his  struggle,  with  his 
struggle  his  work',  with  his  work  the  redemp- 
tion, with  the  redemption  the  foundation  of 
the  new  world."  At  that  moment  the  veil  of 
the  Temple  was  rent  in  twain  from  top  to  the 
bottom.  An  earthquake  shook  the  earth  and 
split  the  rocks,  and  as  it  rolled  away  from  their  SonJ^nd 
places  the  great  stones  which  closed  and  covered 
the  cavern  sepulchres  of  the  Jews,  so  it  seemed 
to  the  imaginations  of  many  to  have  disimpris- 
oned the  spirits  of  the  dead,  and  to  have  filled 
the  air  with  ghostly  visitants,  who,  after  Christ 
had  risen,  appeared  to  linger  in  the  holy  city. 
These  circumstances  of  amazement,  joined  to 
all  they  had  observed  in  the  bearing  of  the 
crucified,  cowed  even  the  cruel  and  gay  indif- 
ference of  the  Roman  soldiers.     On  the  cen- 


472  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  a.d.  33 

turion  who  was  in  command  of  them,  the 
whole  scene  had  exercised  a  yet  deeper  influ- 
ence. As  he  stood  opposite  to  the  cross  and 
saw  the  Saviour  die,  he  glorified  God  and  ex- 
claimed, "This  man  was  in  truth  righteous" 
— nay,  more,  "This  man  was  a  Son  of  God." 
Even  the  multitude,  utterly  sobered  from  their 
furious  excitement  and  frantic  rage,  began  to 
be  weighed  down  with  a  guilty  consciousness 
that  the  scene  which  they  had  witnessed  had 
in  it  something  more  awful  than  they  could 
have  conceived,  and  as  they  returned  to  Jeru- 
salem they  wailed,  and  beat  upon  their  breasts. 
And  in  truth  that  scene  was  more  awful 
than  they,  or  even  we,  can  know.  The  secular 
historian,  be  he  ever  so  sceptical,  can  not  fail 
Central  to  scc  in  it  the  central  point  of  the  world's 
fhTworid's  history.     Whether  he  be  a  believer  in  Christ 

history.  •'  ,       •         1  1    • 

or  not,  he  can  not  refuse  to  admit  that  this 
new  religion  grew  from  the  smallest  of  all 
seeds  to  be  a  mighty  tree,  so  that  the  birds  of 
the  air  took  refuge  in  its  branches;  that  it  was 
the  little  stone  cut  without  hands  which  dashed 
into  pieces  the  colossal  image  of  heathen  great- 
ness, and  grew  till  it  became  a  great  mountain 
and  filled  the  earth.  Alike  to  the  infidel  and 
to  the  believer,  the  Crucifixion  is  the  boundary 
instant  between  ancient  and  modern  days. 

[The  conquest  of  Britain  was  seriously  un- 
dertaken in  43,  the  southern  part  becoming  a 
Roman  province.    Judea  also  became  a  prov- 


A.D.33  THE    CRUCIFIXION  473 

ince  in  44.    In  54,  Agrippina  poisons  Claudius 

to  make  way  for  her  son  Nero.     In  64,  a  fire,  becomes 

i'>  emperor. 

lasting  six  days  and  followed  by  a  second  one 
lasting  three  more,  destroys  most  of  Rome. 
Nero  is  credited  with  having  ordered  it  to 
clear  the  ground  for  a  more  beautiful  city. 
He  accuses  the  Jews  and  Christians  of  being 
incendiaries.  The  first  persecution  of  the 
Christians  begins  thereupon.] 


PERSECUTIONS    OF    THE    CHRISTIANS 

(A.D.  64—303) 

WILLIAM    FRANCIS    COLLIER 

ELEVEN  persecutions  of  the  Christians 
— some  fiercer,  others  fainter — marked 
the  dying  struggles  of  the  many-headed 
monster,   Paganism.      More  than  three  cen- 
turies were  filled  with  the  sound  and  sorrows 
of  the  great  conflict. 

I.  In  the  tenth  year  of  the  brutal  Nero's 
reign  the  first  great  persecution  of  Christians 
took  place.  A  fire,  such  as  never  had  burned 
before,  consumed  nearly  the  whole  city  of 
Rome;  and  men  said  that  the  emperor's  own 
2!?Rome,  hand  had  kindled  the  flames  out  of  mere 
'"'°'^^'  wicked  sport,  and  that,  while  the  blazing  city 
was  filled  with  shrieks  of  pain  and  terror,  he 
sat  calmly  looking  on  and  singing  verses  on  the 
burning  of  Troy  to  the  music  of  his  lyre.  This 
story  finding  ready  acceptance  among  the 
homeless  and  beggared  people,  the  tyrant 
strove  by  inflicting  tortures  on  the  Christians 
to  turn  the  suspicion  from  himself  upon  them. 
On  the  pretence  that  they  were  guilty  of  the 
atrocious   crime,    he    crucified    many;    some, 

(474) 


A.D.64-303        PERSECUTIONS    OF    THE    CHRISTIANS  ^75 

covered  with  the  skins  of  wild  beasts,  were 
worried  to  death  by  dogs  in  the  theatres;  ten- 
der girls  and  gray-haired  men  were  torn  by 
tigers,  or  hacked  with  the  swords  of  gladia- 
tors. But  the  worst  sight  was  seen  in  the  gar- 
dens of  Nero,  where  chariot  races  were  held 
by  night,  in  which  the  emperor  himself, 
dressed  as  a  common  driver,  whipped  his 
horses  round  the  goal.  There  stood  poor 
men  and  women  of  the  Christian  faith,  their 
clothes  smeared  with  pitch,  or  other  combus- 
tible, all  blazing  as  torches  to  throw  light  on 
the  sport  of  the  imperial  demon.  In  the 
wider  persecutions  that  followed,  for  this  one 
was  chiefly  confined  to  Rome,  there  was  per- 
haps no  scene  of  equal  horror. 

2.  By  Domitian,  sixth  in  succession  f rom  Persecmioa 

t  under 

Nero,  proceedmgs  of  great  severity,  but  of  domitian. 
a  character  less  brutal,  were  taken  against  the 
Christians.  It  was  a  harvest-time  for  the 
spies,  who  crept  everywhere,  and  grew  rich 
with  the  spoils  of  the  dead  and  the  exiles.  The 
cousin  and  the  niece  of  the  emperor,  accused 
only  of  "Atheism,  and  Jewish  manners,"  were 
among  the  sufiferers.  Many  were  banished; 
among  them  St.  John  the  Evangelist.  Driven, 
about  95,  to  the  isle  of  Patmos,  he  saw  there 
those  visions  of  glory  and  mystery  recorded 
in  the  book  of  Revelation.  The  two  grand- 
sons of  St.  Jude,  who  was  the  brother  of  our 
Saviour,  were  brought  before  a  Roman  tri- 
bunal, charged  with  aiming  at  royal  power, 


47H  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  a.  d.  64-309 

for  they  traced  descent  from  David.  But 
when  they  showed  their  hands  hardened  with 
honest  toil  on  their  little  farm,  they  were  sent 
home  unhurt. 

3.  Under  the  gentle  Nerva  the  Christians 
lived  in  peace,  and  spying  ceased  to  be  a  well- 

Sr^Nerva.  paid  busincss ;  but  when  Trajan,  a  stern  Span- 
ish soldier,  wore  the  purple,  evil  days  re- 
turned, as  yet,  however,  only  in  a  single  prov- 
ince. Pliny  the  Younger,  appointed  proconsul 
of  Bithynia  and  Pontus,  found  himself  at  a 
loss  how  to  deal  with  the  Christians,  w^ho  were 
very  numerous  under  his  rule.  He  wrote  to 
the  emperor,  saying  that  the  superstition — so 
he  called  it — had  spread  every^vhere  among 
rich  and  poor;  that  the  temples  were  empty, 
and  the  sacrifices  were  hardly  ever  offered. 
But  the  worst  he  could  say  of  the  Christians, 
although  he  seems  to  have  taken  great  pains 
to  know  all  about  them,  was  that  they  used  to 
meet  on  a  certain  day  (Sunday)  to  sing  a  hymn 
in  honor  of  Christ;  that  they  bound  one  an- 
other by  a  vow-  not  to  steal,  or  commit  adul- 
tery, or  break  their  words,  or  defraud  any  one ; 
and  that  on  the  same  evening  they  met  at  a 
simple  and  innocent  meal.  The  fact  that  a 
skilful  lawyer,  as  Pliny  was,  did  not  know 
how  to  deal  with  the  Christians,  show^s  that 
there  were   no   special   laws   as   yet   framed 

Jd?ct*"^  against  them.  The  answer  of  Trajan  must 
be  looked  on  as  the  first  edict  of  persecution. 
It  declared  that  the  Christians  were  not  to  be 


A.D.  no. 


A.D.64-303        PERSECUTIONS    OF    THE    .CHRISTIANS  477 

sought  for  by  the  police,  like  common  crim- 
inals; but  that,  when  openly  accused  and  con- 
victed, they  were  to  be  punished.  However, 
before  receiving  the  imperial  rescript,  Pliny 
had  let  loose  the  terrors  of  the  law.  He  de- 
manded that  the  Christians,  cursing  Christ, 
should  burn  incense  and  pour  wine  before  the 
statues  of  the  emperor  and  the  gods.  Those 
who  refused  died;  some,  of  weaker  faith, 
yielded  to  the  terror  of  the  hour. 

4.  Early  in  the  reign  of  Adrian,  who  came 
to  the  throne  in  117,  the  rage  of  the  pagan  Pe^s/;="''°" 
mobs  burst  out  upon  the  Christians  with  a^'^"^" 
force  which  had  been  gathering  for  years. 
Those  attacks,  which  were  encouraged  by  the 
common  belief  that  Christianity  was  now  con- 
demned by  law,  took  place  especially  in  Asia 
Minor.  Two  learned  Christians  approached 
the  throne  with  Apologies  or  defences  of  their 
faith,  when  the  emperor  came  into  their  neigh- 
borhood on  one  of  the  constant  and  rapid  jour- 
neys for  which  he  was  remarkable.  Influ- 
enced perhaps  by  these  addresses,  but  rather 
by  his  love  of  justice  and  order,  he  published 
an  edict  forbidding  Christians  to  be  arrested  a  favorable 
on  mere  rumor,  and  ordering  all  false  in-^*"' 
formers  to  be  heavily  punished.  However, 
in  Palestine,  Bar-cochba,  an  impostor,  who 
claimed  to  be  the  Messiah,  put  many  Chris- 
tians to  a  cruel  death,  because  they  refused  to 
follow  his  flag  of  rebellion. 

The  reign  of  the  elder  Antonine  was  a  time 


478  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  a.d.  64-305 

of  comparative  peace  to  the  Christians;  but 
lortured"^  when  Marcus  Aurelius,  the  Stoic  philosopher, 
became  emperor  in  i6i,  there  was  a  change. 
Active  search  was  made  for  Christians.  Tor- 
ture began  to  be  inflicted  on  them.  It  seemed, 
indeed,  as  if  both  the  rulers  and  the  people  of 
pagan  Rome  were  beginning  to  realize,  though 
as  yet  vaguely  and  dimly,  the  growth  of  that 
stone,  cut  out  without  hands,  which  was  des- 
tined soon  to  shiver  the  idols  in  all  their  tem- 
ples, and  smite  their  iron  empire  into  dust. 
5.  At  Smyrna  the  Christian  Church  suf- 
fered heavily.  Yielding  to  the  rage  of  the 
heathens  and  the  Jews,  the  proconsul  flung  the 
followers  of  Jesus  to  wild  beasts,  or  burned 
them  alive.    The  noblest  of  the  noble  victims 

Martyr-  t-»  •    1  t-i    1  1  1  • 

PoT-^r  ^'^^  Bishop  rolycarp,  a  man  bendmg  under 
A.D.  X67.  fj-jg  weight  of  nearly  ninety  years.  When 
seized  he  asked  for  an  hour  to  pray.  They 
gave  him  two,  then  hurried  him  on  an  ass  to- 
ward the  city.  The  chief  of  police,  meeting 
him  on  the  way,  took  him  up  into  his  chariot, 
and  vainly  strove  to  turn  him  from  the  faith. 
On  his  refusal,  he  was  flung  so  violently  to 
the  ground  that  a  bone  of  his  leg  was  injured. 
Befo-re  the  tribunal,  amid  a  crowd  howling 
for  his  blood,  he  was  urged  to  curse  Christ. 
"Eighty-six  years,"  said  he,  "have  I  served 
him,  and  he  has  done  me  nothing  but  good; 
and  how  could  I  curse  him,  my  Lord  and 
Saviour?"  Before  the  flames  rose  round 
him,  he  cried  aloud,  thanking  God  for  judg- 


A.D.  64-303 


PERSECUTIONS   OF   THE   CHRISTIANS  479 


ing    him    worthy    to    drink    of    the    cup    of 
Christ. 

The  legend  of  the  "thundering  Legion," 
which  belongs  to  this  period,  probably  rests 
on  some  historical  foundation,  though  handed 
down  to  us  manifestly  in  a  somewhat  mythical 
form.  While  Marcus  Aurelius,  so  the  story 
runs,  was  warring  with  some  German  tribes, 
his  soldiers,  marching  one  day  under  a  burn- 
ing sun,  were  parched  with  deadly  thirst.  The 
foe,  hovering  near,  threatened  an-  attack.  A 
terrible  death  seemed  to  stare  them  in  the  face,  J^^lfy^f^^ 
when  a  band  of  Christian  soldiers,  falling  on'"'  '^^ 
their  knees,  prayed  for  help.  A  peal  of 
thunder,  accompanied  with  heavy  rain,  was 
the  immediate,  and,  as  it  seemed,  miraculous 
response  from  the  skies;  and  the  soldiers, 
catching  the  precious  drops  in  their  helmets, 
drank  and  were  saved. 

6.  This  event  is  said  to  have  softened  the 
emperor's  feeling  toward  the  Christians;  but 
the  change,  if  any,  was  very  slight,  for  three 
years  later  a  fierce  persecution  arose  in  the 
heart  of  Gaul,  at  Lyons  and  Vienne.  Pothinus, 
the  bishop,  a  feeble  old  man  of  ninety,  died  Persecution 
in  a  dungeon.  Those  Christians  who  were  a.d.  177. ' 
Roman  citizens  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  death 
by  the  sword;  the  rest  were  torn  by  wild 
beasts.  The  friends  of  the  dead  were  denied 
even  the  poor  consolation  of  burying  their 
loved  ones;  for  the  mutilated  bodies  were 
burned  to  ashes,  and  scattered  upon  the  waters 


480  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  a. d.  64-303 

of  the  Rhone.  One  Symphorian,  a  young  man 
of  Autun,  a  town  not  far  from  Lyons,  was  be- 
headed for  refusing  to  fall  on  his  knees  before 
the  car  of  the  idol  Cybele.  As  he  went  to 
execution,  his  soul  was  strengthened  by  his 
mother's  voice,  crying:  "My  son,  my  son,  be 
steadfast;  look  up  to  him  who  dwells  in 
heaven.  To-day  thy  life  is  not  taken  from 
thee,  but  raised  to  a  better!" 

7.  The  reign  of  Septimius  Severus  was 
marked  by  a  terrible  persecution  in  Africa. 
By  the  same  emperor  a  law  was  passed,  for- 
bidding any  one  to  become  either  a  Jew^  or  a 
Christian. 

From  many  touching  stories  of  those  bitter 
days  take  one.  A  young  mother,  named  Per- 
petua,  aged  only  twenty-two,  was  arrested  at 
p^pet°Ja.  Carthage  for  being  a  Christian.  Her  father 
was  a  pagan;  but  from  her  mother's  lips  she 
had  learned  to  love  Christ.  When  she  was 
dragged  before  the  magistrate, her  gray-haired 
father  prayed  her  earnestly  to  recant;  but, 
pointing  to  a  vessel  that  lay  on  the  ground,  she 
said,  "Can  I  call  this  vessel  what  it  is  not?" 
"No."  "Neither,  then,  can  I  call  myself  any- 
thing but  a  Christian."  Her  little  baby  was 
taken  from  her,  and  she  was  cast  into  a  dark, 
crowded  dungeon.  There  was  no  light  in 
her  desolate  heart  for  some  days,  until  her 
child  was  given  to  her  again;  and  then,  in  her 
own  tender  words,  "the  dungeon  became  a 
palace."     Before  the  trial  came  on,  her  father 


A.D.64-303        PERSECUTIONS   OF  THE   CHRISTIANS  4S1 

pleaded  again  with  tears,  and  kisses,  and  words 
of  agony,  seeking  to  turn  her  from  what  he 
considered  her  obstinate  folly.  But  all  in 
vain.  Neither  her  father's  tears  nor  her 
baby's  cries  could  wean  her  soul  from  Christ; 
and  she  died,  with  many  others,  torn  to  pieces 
in  the  circus  by  savage  beasts,  amid  the  yells 
of  still  more  savage  men. 

8.  Maximin,the  Thracian  giant, who  gained 
the  purple  by  murder  in  235,  persecuted  those 
Christian  bishops  who  had  been  friends  of  his 
predecessor.     In  many  provinces,  too — Pon- f^^^^^";^" 
tus  and  Cappadocia,  for  instance — the  people,  padocL^" 
roused  to  fury  by  severe  earthquakes,  fell  upon 

the  Christians,  crying  out  that  their  blas- 
phemies had  brought  these  judgments  on  the 
land. 

9.  Conquering  Philip  the  Arabian,  Decius 
Trajan  ascended  the  throne;  and  then  the  long 
calm  which  the  Christians  of  Rome  had  en- 
joyed was  rudely  broken.  One  great  use  of 
these  persecutions  was  the  sifting  of  the 
Church — the  driving  out  of  those  who,  inxheDecian 
peaceful  days,  had  become  Christians  f rom  a'd';™;9. 
convenience  merely  or  vanity.  The  gold  was 
tested  and  refined  in  a  fiery  furnace.  Decius 
seems  to  have  resolved  utterly  to  destroy  Chris- 
tianity. His  hatred  of  the  bishops  was  intense. 
Fabianus,  the  Roman  bishop,  was  martyred. 

Both  in  Rome  and  the  provinces  imprison- 
ment and  torture  awaited  every  faithful  wit- 
ness; and  among  the  refinements  of  torture, 


482  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  a. d.  64-303 

hunger  and  thirst  came  into  common  use.  But 
a  rebellion  in  Macedonia  and  a  Gothic  war 
turned  the  attention  of  the  emperor  from  the 
Christians,  and  by  his  death  they  soon  gained 
a  short  breathing  time. 

10.  In  the  fourth  year  of  Valerian  an  edict 
Valerian's  ^^g  issucd  in  unmistakablc  words — "Let  bish- 
'"■''• '^^-  ops,  presbyters,  and  deacons  at  once  be  put  to 
the  sword."  The  aim  of  this  edict  seems  to 
have  been  to  check  Christianity  by  cutting  off 
the  heads  of  the  Church.  Sixtus,  the  Roman 
bishop,  and  four  deacons  were  the  first  to 
sufifer.  But  a  more  distinguished  victim  was 
Cyprian,  Bishop  of  Carthage,  who,  after  hav- 
ing escaped  the  Decian  storm,  was  now  be- 
headed for  refusing  to  sacrifice  to  the  pagan 
idols.  Valerian  having  been  defeated  by 
Sapor,  the  Persian  king,  whose  triumphal  car 
he  was  forced  to  drag  in  chains,  died  in  the 
far  East.  His  son,  Gallienus,  restored  to  the 
Christians  their  burial-grounds  and  other 
property  taken  from  them  in  the  late  reign. 
This  was  a  great  step,  for  it  was  a  public  ac- 
knowledgment that  the  Christian  Church  was 
a  legal  society;  and  it  no  doubt  did  much  to 
save  Christians  from  the  wrath  of  the  low- 
born fire-worshipper  Aurelian,  who  became 
emperor  in  270.  A  bigot  by  nature,  and  bent 
upon  persecution,  he  yet  allowed  five  years  to 
slip  away  without  striking  a  blow  at  the  Cross. 
Forty  His  murder  in  275  left  forty  years  of  peace 
ofp^ce.     to  the  Church,  which,  like  a  sturdy  young  oak 


A.D.64-303        PERSECUTIONS  OF  THE   CHRISTIANS  483 

tree,  amid  all  these  great  and  frequent  tem- 
pests, had  been  only  striking  its  roots  deeper, 
and  taking  a  firmer  grasp  of  the  soil. 

II.  Fiercest,  widest,  and  last,  was  the  perse- 
cution that  broke  out  under  Diocletian  and 
Maximian.  On  the  day  of  the  feast  Termina- 
lia,  at  early  dawn,  the  splendid  church  of  Nic- Ji'rlicu- 
omedia,  a  city  of  Bithynia,  where  Diocletian  23° A.D.V3. 
had  fixed  his  court,  was  broken  open;  all 
copies  of  the  Bible  found  there  were  burned; 
and  the  walls  were  levelled  to  the  ground  by 
the  imperial  soldiers.  This  was  done  at  the 
instigation  of  Galerius,  the  emperor's  son-in- 
law.  Next  day  a  terrible  edict  appeared, 
commanding  all  Christian  churches  to  be 
pulled  down,  all  Bibles  to  be  flung  into  the 
fire,  and  all  Christians  to  be  degraded  from 
rank  and  honor.  Scarcely  was  the  proclama- 
tion posted  up,  when  a  Christian  of  noble  rank 
tore  it  to  pieces.  For  this  he  was  roasted  to 
death.  A  fire,  which  broke  out  in  the  palace 
twice  within  a  fortnight,  was  made  a  pretence 
for  very  violent  dealings  with  the  Christians. 
Those  who  refused  to  burn  incense  to  idols 
were  tortured  or  slain.  Over  all  the  empire  the 
persecution  raged,  except  in  Gaul,  Britain,  and 
Spain,  where  Constantius  Chlorus  ruled.  Yet 
there,  too,  it  was  slightly  felt.  Even  after  the  Abdication 
abdication  of  the  emperors  in  305,  Galerius  °i!,°a'?d*' 
kept  the  fires  blazing;  and  so  far  did  this'^'^""' 
pagan  go  in  his  miserable  zeal,  that  he  caused 
all  the  food  in  the  markets  to  be  sprinkled 


Edict  of 
Galerius. 


484  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  a. d.  64-303 

with  wine  or  water  used  in  sacrifice,  that  thus 
the  Christians  might  be  driven  into  some  con- 
tact with  idol-worship.  With  little  rest  for 
eight  years,  the  whip  and  the  rack,  the  tigers, 
the  hooks  of  steel,  and  the  red-hot  beds,  con- 
tinued to  do  their  deadly  work.  And  then  in 
311,  when  life  was  fading  from  his  dying  eye, 
and  the  blood  of  martyrs  lay  dark  upon  his 
trembling  soul,  Galerius  published  an  edict, 
permitting  Christians  to  worship  God  in  their 
own  way.  This  was  the  turning-point  in  the 
great  strife;  and  henceforward  Roman  heath- 
enism rapidly  decayed,  until  it  was  finally 
abolished  by  Theodosius  in  394. 

In  68,  Galba  is  proclaimed  emperor  by  in- 
of"N«a  surgents  and  Nero  kills  himself.  The  next 
year  Galba  in  turn  falls  victim  to  the  revolt  of 
Otho,  who  in  turn  is  defeated  by  Vitellius  the 
Glutton.  In  69,  also,  Vespasian  is  proclaimed 
emperor  by  his  legions  in  Palestine,  where  he 
is  trying  to  reconquer  revolted  Judea.  He 
leaves  the  command  to  his  son  Titus,  goes  to 
Rome  and  finds  that  Vitellius  has  already 
been  put  to  death.] 


THE    SIEGE    OF    JERUSALEM 

(A.D.  70) 

HEINRICH   GRAETZ 

TITUS,    the   new   heir   to   the   imperial 
throne,   at  last  made  his  appearance  ^.^^^ 
before  Jerusalem    (in   the   spring  of^Xf/^ 
70),  fully  expecting  that  he  would  be  able  to  ^^'■"'^^^"' 
force  the  city  into  submission;  for  it  was  al- 
most a  reproach  to  the  Romans  that  this  rebel- 
lious capital  should  have  maintained  her  in- 
dependence for  four  years.     The  prestige  of 
the  new  imperial  house  seemed,  in  some  meas- 
ure, to  depend  upon  the  fall  of  Jerusalem; 
a  protracted  siege  would   necessarily  imply 
weakness  in  the  military  power  of  Vespasian 
and  his  son. 

Although  Titus  was  eagerly  looking  for- 
ward to  the  subjection  of  Judea,  he  could  not 
think  of  commencing  the  siege  of  Jerusalem 
before  the  spring.  But  he  collected  an  army 
of  not  less  than  eighty  thousand  men,  who 
came,  bringing  with  them  the  largest  batter- 
ing machines  that  had  ever  been  used  in  the 
warfare  of  that  time.  Three  traitors  among Jewish*^" 
the  Judeans  were  most  useful  to  him  in  his  ' ' 
laborious  undertakings — King  Agrippa,  who 

(485) 


486  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  a.d.  70 

not  only  brought  a  contingent  of  men,  but 
who  also  tried  to  influence  the  inhabitants  of 
Jerusalem  in  favor  of  the  Romans;  Tiberius 
Alexander,  who  signalized  his  secession  from 
Judaism  by  going  into  battle  against  his  own 
nation;  and  Josephus,  the  constant  companion 
of  Titus,  who,  from  being  a  prisoner,  had  be- 
come a  guide  in  the  country  which  he  knew 
so  well.  Titus,  inexperienced  enough  in  the 
art  of  war,  bade  the  Judean  apostate  stand 
by  his  side,  and  gave  him  the  command  of 
his  own  bodyguard  (Prefectus  pretorio).  But 
the  hostile  factions  had  drawn  together  when 
this  new  danger  threatened  them.  Shortly  be- 
Thede-      fore  the  Passover  festival,  numbers  of  devoted 

fenders.  ' 

men  streamed  into  Jerusalem  to  defend  their 
holy  city.  The  elders  and  chiefs  had  sent 
messengers  to  the  people  living  in  the  out- 
lying provinces,  praying  for  help,  and  their 
request  was  not  made  in  vain.  The  walls  of 
Jerusalem  were  fortified  more  strongly  than 
ever.  At  last  Titus  assembled  his  huge  army 
from  all  sides  and  encamped  at  Scopus- 
Zophim,  north  of  Jerusalem.  He  instantly 
bigms.  summoned  the  inhabitants  to  surrender;  he 
only  demanded  submission,  acknowledgment 
of  the  Roman  rule,  and  payment  of  the  taxes. 
Eager  as  he  was  to  return  to  Rome,  where  all 
the  enjoyments  belonging  to  his  great  position 
were  awaiting  him,  he  was  ready  to  deal  gently 
with  the  Judeans.  Besides  which,  his  devo- 
tion to  a  Judean  princess,  who,  in  spite  of  her 


A.D.  70  THE    SIEGE    OF    JERUSALEM  487 

errors,  still  clung  faithfully  to  the  holy  city, 
made  him  anxious  to  spare  that  city  from  de- 
struction. But  the  Judeans  refused  all  nego- 
tiation. They  had  sworn  to  defend  their  city 
with  their  lives,  and  would  not  hear  of  sur- 
render. Then  the  siege  began  in  earnest.  All  Beginning 
the  gardens  and  groves  to  the  north  of  Jeru- 
salem, the  first  points  of  the  attack,  were  reck- 
lessly destroyed. 

Titus,  anxious  to  reconnoitre  the  ground, 
advanced  with  a  few  followers  to  the  north 
wall,  where  he  narrowly  escaped  being  taken 
prisoner.  The  first  feat  of  arms  on  the  part 
of  the  Judeans  was  crowned  with  success,  and 
seemed  a  good  omen  for  the  future.  For 
they  surprised  and  totally  discomfited  the 
Tenth  Legion,  who  were  pitching  their  tents 
on  the  Mount  of  Olives.  But,  unfortunately, 
this  skirmish  proved  fruitless,  for  the  Judeans  , 
were  obliged  to  retreat  to  their  fortresses,  not, 
however,  without  having  convinced  the  Ro- 
mans that  they  would  have  a  desperate  foe  to 
encounter.  The  besiegers  succeeded  in  pitch- 
ing their  camps  on  three  sides  of  the  city,  and 
in  raising  their  engines  against  the  outer  wall. 
Titus  commenced  operations  during  the  Pass- 
over festival  (March  or  April,  70),  when  he 
believed  that  the  Judeans  would  not  be  will- 
ing to  fight.  But  as  soon  as  the  engines  were  jj^^p^^^jg 
in  working  order  they  rushed  like  demons '^^^^""' 
from  their  retreat,  destroying  the  battering- 
rams,  scattering  the  workmen,  and  bringing 


Heroism  of 
men  and 
women. 


488  THE    WORLDS    GREAT    EVENTS  ad.  70 

alarm  and  confusion  upon  the  enemy.  Not 
only  the  Zealots,  but  all  who  could  carry  arms, 
took  part  in  the  defence,  the  women  setting 
splendid  examples  of  heroism  to  the  men, 
throwing  masses  of  stone  upon  their  assailants, 
pouring  boiling  oil  upon  their  heads,  seizing 
the  ponderous  missiles  that  were  hurled  into 
the  city,  and  turning  them  into  tools  of  de- 
struction against  the  Romans.  But  the  latter 
succeeded  in  repairing  their  broken  battering- 
rams,  and  in  forcing  the  Judeans  back  from 
the  outer  wall.  This  wall,  the  scene  of  a  des- 
perate struggle,  was  at  last  taken  by  the  Ro- 
mans, who,  while  making  themselves  masters 
of  it,  seized  the  suburban  town  of  Bezetha. 

The  skirmishes  were  now  carried  on  daily, 
and  with  increasing  bitterness.  After  seven- 
teen days  of  unremitting  labor  the  Romans 
succeeded  in  raising  their  banks  opposite  the 
Antonine  tower.  But  John  of  Gischala  and 
some  heroic  followers  of  Bar-Giora,  creeping 
through  a  subterranean  passage,  destroyed 
these  works  by  setting  fire  to  them.  With  the 
ever-increasing  danger  grew  the  heroism  of 
the  besieged.  All  Josephus'  persuasive  words, 
prompted  by  Titus,  were  useless.  There  were 
but  two  courses  left  open  to  them — victory  or 
death.  At  the  very  outset  of  the  siege  they 
had  learned  what  they  would  have  to  expect 
Titus        from  the  Romans.     Titus,  surnamed  "Delight 

crucifies  500  '  1         i       <•  1    • 

prisoners,    of  all  Mankind,"  crucified  five  hundred  of  his 
prisoners  in  one  day,  and  sent  others  back  into 


A.D.70  THE    SIEGE    OF    JERUSALEM  489 

the  city  after  cutting  off  their  hands.  He 
was,  however,  forced  to  acknowledge  to  him- 
self that  the  siege  would  be  one  of  long  dura- 
tion. But  the  horrors  of  famine  were  soon  aid^wm. 
to  come  to  his  assistance.  All  egress  from  and 
ingress  into  the  besieged  city  being  rigorously 
prevented,  the  provisions  began  to  fail  among 
the  thickly-crowded  populace.  Houses  and 
streets  were  filled  with  unburied  corpses,  and 
the  pangs  of  starvation  seemed  to  destroy  all 
feelings  of  pity,  in  the  unfortunate  survivors. 
The  prospect — a  terrible  one  indeed — of  a 
lingering  death  sent  numbers  of  deserters  to 
the  Romans,  where  they  met  with  a  pitiful 
fate.  As  the  number  of  these  unfortunate  fu- 
gitives  increased,    the   Zealots   treated   those  s^ 'he 

<='  '  Zealots. 

whom  they  suspected  with  still  greater  sever- 
ity. A  conspiracy  being  discovered  among 
Bar-Giora's  followers,  that  leader  relentlessly 
punished  the  guilty  with  death.  They  were 
all  beheaded  in  full  view  of  the  Roman  camp, 
among  them  being  Mathias  Boethus,  of  priestly 
family. 

But  in  spite  of  the  watchfulness  of  the 
Zealots,  they  were  unable  to  circumvent  the 
traitors  in  all  their  designs.  Those  who  were 
secretly  friendly  to  Rome  shot  off  on  their 
arrow-heads  written  accounts  concerning  the 
state  of  the  city,  which  fell  into  the  enemy's 
camp.  The  Zealots  struggled  manfully  to 
prevent  the  Romans  from  completing  their 
earthworks,  but  at  the  end  of  twenty-one  days 


490  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  a.d.  70 

the  battering-rams  were  again  pointing  at  the 
Antonine  tower.  The  wall  surrounding  the 
fortress  fell  with  a  terrible  crash,  but  what 

?hc§Lom^^s  was  the  surprise  and  horror  of  the  Romans, 
when  they  discovered  that  a  second  and  in- 
ner wall  had  been  erected  behind  the  one  they 
had  succeeded  in  destroying.  They  tried 
hopelessly  to  storm  it,  the  Judeans  repulsing 
a  nocturnal  attack,  the  battle  lasting  until  the 
following  morning.  It  was  about  this  time 
that  the  daily  sacrifices  ceased,  on  account  of 
the  scarcity  of  the  animals.  Titus  seized  this 
opportunity  again  to  summon  the  besieged  to 
surrender,  but  the  mere  sight  of  the  interpret- 
er, who  bore  the  message,  aroused  the  indig- 
nation of  the  besieged.  John  of  Gischala  re- 
plied that  the  holy  city  could  not  be  destroyed, 

^^  ,  ^     and  that  God  held  her  fate  in  his  hands.     The 

The  Jude- 

fhlTempie° J^^^^"S  thcn  withdrcw  to  their  last  point 
of  defence,  the  Temple.  The  battering-rams 
were  raised  against  the  sacred  walls.  The  un- 
fortunate people  remorselessly  destroyed  the 
colonnades  leading  to  the  Antonine  tower, 
thus  cutting  off  all  connection  with  that  for- 
tress. They  spared  no  craft  to  tire  out  the 
Romans,  even  setting  fire  to  some  of  the  pillars 
attached  to  the  Temple,  and  then  pretending 
to  take  flight.  This  stratagem  brought  the 
Romans  climbing  over  the  walls,  where  the 
Judeans  lay  in  ambush  to  receive  them,  put- 
ting them  to  the  sword  or  casting  them  into 
the  flames.     But  the  fire  could  not  be  extin- 


A.D.70  THE    SIEGE    OF    JERUSALEM  491 

guished,  and  the  beautiful  colonnade  of  the 
western  side  was  entirely  destroyed. 

Meanwhile  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  were 
suffering  cruelly  from  famine,  which  was  sap- 
ping their  life,  obliterating  all  distinctions  be- 
tween rich  and  poor,  and  giving  free  scope  to 
the  lowest  passions.  Money  had  lost  its  value, 
for  it  could  not  purchase  bread.  Men  fought 
desperately  in  the  streets  over  the  most  loath- ^^^^^^^^^ 
some  and  disgusting  food,  a  handful  of  straw,  ^*"''"*- 
a  piece  of  leather,  or  ofifal  thrown  to  the  dogs. 
The  wealthy  Martha,  wife  of  the  High  Priest 
Joshua  ben  Gamala,  whose  wont  it  had  been 
to  step  on  carpets  from  her  house  to  the  Tem- 
ple, was  found  searching  the  town  like  the 
very  poorest  for  a  morsel  of  food,  even  of  the 
most  revolting  description. 

But  as  if  no  one  line  of  the  old  prophecy 
concerning  the  doom  of  Judea  should  remain 
unfulfilled,  a  terrible  scene  was  to  be  enacted 
which  struck  even  the  enemy  with  horror.  A 
woman  of  the  name  of  Miriam,  who  had  fledkinsand 

'  eats  "f" 

from  Perea  to  the  capital,  actually  killed  and°"'" 
devoured  her  own  child. 

The  rapidly  increasing  number  of  unburied 
corpses  made  the  sultry  summer  air  pestilen- 
tial, and  the  populace  fell  a  prey  to  sickness, 
famine,  and  the  sword.  But  the  army  of  the 
besieged  fought  on  with  unbroken  courage, 
they  rushed  to  the  battlefield,  although  faint- 
ing with  hunger,  and  surrounded  by  grim  pic- 
tures of  death,  as  bravely  as  had  been  their 


eats  her 
child. 


492  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS 


A.D.  70 


The  Ro- 
mans are 
dispirited 


wont  in  the  early  days  of  the  siege.  The 
Romans  were  amazed  at  the  unflinching  hero- 
ism of  the  Zealots,  at  their  devotion  to  the 
Sanctuary  and  to  the  cause  of  their  people. 
In  fact,  they  grew  to  look  upon  them  as  invin- 
cible, and  stimulated  by  this  belief  some  few 
of  their  number  were  actually  known  to  desert 
their  colors  and  their  faith  and  to  accept  Ju- 
daism, convincing  themselves,  in  their  turn, 
that  the  holy  city  could  never  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy.  Proud  as  the  Judeans 
well  might  be  of  these  voluntary  proselytes,  at 
this  the  supreme  moment  of  their  history,  they 
volunteered  to  guard  them  as  best  they  could 
from  the  horrors  of  starvation. 

Meanwhile,  the  Romans  had  begun  to  bat- 
ter the  outer  walls  of  the  courts  of  the  Temple. 
For  six  days  they  had  been  working  in  vain, 
and  had  then  tried  to  fix  their  scaling  ladders 
and  storm  the  walls.  But  as  they  were  re- 
pulsed with  great  loss  of  life,  Titus  relin- 
quished his  hopes  of  sparing  the  sacred  edifice, 
and  ordered  his  men  to  set  fire  to  the  gates. 
For  a  whole  night  and  the  next  day  the  fire 
raged  fiercely;  then  Titus  commanded  that  it 
should  be  extinguished,  and  that  a  road  should 
be  levelled  for  the  advance  of  his  legions.  A 
council  of  war  was  hastily  summoned  to  de- 
cide upon  the  fate  of  the  Sanctuary.  This 
council  consisted  of  six  of  the  chief  generals 
slnctuary.  ^^  ^^^  ^^my,  three  of  whom  advised  the  de- 
struction of  the  Temple,  which,   if  spared, 


The  fate 


A.D.  70 


THE    SIEGE    OF    JERUSALEM  493 


would  inevitably  remain  as  a  focus  for  rebel- 
lion. Titus  was  opposed  to  this  decision, 
partly  on  account  of  the  Princess  Berenice's 
feelings,  and  three  of  the  council  agreeing 
with  their  leader,  it  was  decided  to  take  the 
Temple,  but  not  to  destroy  it. 

On  the  9th  Ab,  the  Judeans  made  another  des- 
perate sally,  but  were  driven  back  by  an  over- 
powering force  of  the  besiegers.  But  the  hour 
of  the  city's  doom  was  about  to  strike,  and  in 
striking  leave  an  echo  that  would  ring  through 
centuries  yet  to  come.  The  besieged  attempted  ^J^'?^'°"5 
one  more  furious  onslaught  upon  their  ene- 
mies. They  were  again  defeated,  and  again 
driven  back  to  their  sheltering  walls.  But 
this  time  they  were  closely  followed  by  the 
Romans,  one  of  whom  seizing  a  burning  fire- 
brand, mounted  upon  a  comrade's  shoulders, 
and  flung  his  terrible  missile  through  the  so- i^S"^'*" 
called  golden  window  of  the  Temple.  The 
fire  blazed  up ;  it  caught  the  wooden  beams  of 
the  sanctuary,  and  rose  in  flames  heavenward. 
At  this  sight  the  bravest  of  the  Judeans  re- 
coiled terror-stricken.  Titus  hurried  to  the  tuus  en- 
spot  with  his  troops,  and  shouted  to  the  sol-re'^tral^his 

.  .  soldiers. 

diers  to  extmguish  the  flames.  But  no  one 
heeded  him.  The  maddened  soldiery  plunged 
into  the  courts  of  the  Temple,  murdering  all 
who  came  within  their  reach,  and  hurling  their 
fire-brands  into  the  blazing  building.  Titus,  Penetrates 
unable  to  control  his  legions,  and  urged  bytuar/hiin- 
curiosity,  penetrated  into  the  Holy  of  Holies. 


494  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  a.d.  70 

Meanwhile  the  Judeans,  desperate  in  their 
death  agonies,  closed  wildly  with  their  assail- 
ants. The  shouts  of  victory,  the  shrieks  of 
despair,  the  fierce  hissing  of  the  flames,  mak- 
ing the  very  earth  tremble  and  the  air  vibrate, 
rose  in  one  hideous  din,  which  echoed  from 
S.TS  the  tottering  walls  of  the  Sanctuary  to  the 
mountain  heights  of  Judea.  There  were  con- 
gregated clusters  of  trembling  people  from  all 
the  country  round,  who  beheld  in  the  ascend- 
ing flames  the  sign  that  the  glory  of  their  na- 
tion had  departed  forever.  Many  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  Jerusalem,  unwilling  to  outlive  their 
beloved  Temple,  cast  themselves  headlong  into 
the  burning  mass.  But  thousands  of  men, 
women,  and  children,  in  spite  of  the  fierce 
onslaught  of  the  legions  and  the  rapidly  in- 
creasing flames,  clung  fondly  to  the  inner 
court.  For  had  they  not  been  promised  by 
the  persuasive  lips  of  the  false  prophets,  that 
God  would  save  them  by  a  miracle  at  the  very 
moment  of  destruction?  Alas!  they  fell  but 
an  easier  prey  to  the  Romans,  who  slew  some 
six  thousand  on  the  spot.  The  Temple  was 
burned  to  the  ground,  and  only  a  few  smoul- 
dering ruins  were  left,  rising. like  gigantic 
ghosts  from  the  ashes.  A  few  of  the  priests 
had  escaped  to  the  tops  of  the  walls,  where 
they  remained  without  food  for  some  days, 
until  they  were  compelled  to  surrender.  Titus 

Titus  J  ,      I       .      .  .  •  itr%    ' 

executes     ordercQ  their  mstant  execution,  saying:    r nests 

the  priests.  '        -'        '^ 

must  fall  with  their  Temple."     The  conquer- 


A.D.  70  THE    SIEGE    OF    JERUSALEM  495 

ing  legions  raised  their  standards  in  the  midst 
of  the  ruins,  sacrificed  to  their  gods  in  the 
Holy  Place,  and  saluted  Titus  as  emperor.  By 
a  strange  coincidence  the  second  Temple  had 
fallen  upon  the  anniversary  of  the  destruction 
of  the  first  Temple  ( loth  Ab,  70) .  Titus,  who 
could  no  longer  feel  bound  to  respect  the  feel- 
ings of  the  Princess  Berenice,  gave  orders  that 
the  Acra  and  Ophla,  different  parts  of  the 
city,  should  be  instantly  set  on  fire. 

But  the  struggle  was  not  yet  over.  The 
leaders  of  the  rebellion  had  retreated  to  the 
upper  city  with  some  of  their  followers.  There 
they  conferred  with  Titus.  John  and  Simon, 
having  sworn  that  they  would  never  lay  down 
their  arms,  offered  to  surrender  upon  the  con- 
dition that  they  would  be  permitted  to  pass 
armed  through  the  Roman  camp.  But  Titus 
sternly  bade  them  throw  themselves  upon  his 
mercy;  and  so  the  fierce  strife  blazed  out  anew. 
On  the  20th  of  Ab,  the  Romans  began  to  raise 
their  embankments,  and,  after  eighteen  days  of 
labor,  the  siege  of  the  upper  city  commenced,  siege  of  the 

'  <->  r  r  J  upper  city. 

Even  then  the  Zealots  would  not  think  of  sur- 
render. Discovering  that  the  Idumeans  were 
secretly  making  terms  with  Titus,  they  threw 
some  of  the  ringleaders  into  prison,  and  exe- 
cuted others.  But  the  Judean  warriors  were 
exhausted  by  their  superhuman  resistance  and 
by  their  long  famine,  and  the  Romans  were  at 
last  able  to  scale  the  walls  and  to  seize  the 
fortresses,  a  prelude  to  their  spreading  through 


496  THE    WORLD'S    GREAT    EVENTS  a.d.  70 

the  city,  plundering  and  murdering  the  last  of 

the  wretched  inhabitants.  On  the  8th  of  Elul, 

they  set  fire  to  all  that  remained  of  Jerusalem, 

,.    .  ,     the  upper  city,  known  by  the  name  of  Zion. 

Zion  IS  de-  ^ '  -' "  -' 

S^'^''"''The  walls  were  entirely  levelled,  Titus  leav- 
ing only  the  three  fortresses  of  Hippicus, 
Mariame,  and  Phasael  to  stand  as  lasting  wit- 
nesses of  his  victory.  Under  the  ruins  of  Jeru- 
salem and  her  Temple  lay  buried  the  last  rem- 
nant of  Judea's  independence.  More  than  a 
million  of  lives  had  been  lost  during  the  siege. 
Counting  those  who  had  fallen  in  Galilee, 
Perea,  and  the  provinces,  it  may  be  assumed 
that  the  Judeans  who  inhabited  their  native 
'  land  were  almost  destroyed. 

Once  more  did  Zion  sit  weeping  among  the 
ruins,  weeping  over  her  sons  fallen  in  battle, 
over  her  daughters  sold  in  slavery  or  aban- 
doned to  the  savage  soldiery  of  Rome;  but  she 
was  more  desolate  now  than  in  the  days  of  her 
first  captivity,  for  hushed  was  the  voice  of  the 
prophet,  who  once  foretold  the  end  of  her 
widowhood  and  her  mourning. 

[In  70,  the  Arch  of  Titus  and  the  Colosseum 
are  begun.  In  78,  Agricola  begins  the  com- 
plete subjugation  of  Britain.  In  79,  Titus  suc- 
ceeds to  the  empire.] 

END  OP  VOLUME  ONE 


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